


Not Every Dream is Perfect

by YoshiFlower



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: 100 Themes Challenge, Angst, Eating Disorders, Established Relationship, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Hinted Juggey, Hinted Turnfree, My First Work in This Fandom, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-01-14 05:37:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 40,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1254895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoshiFlower/pseuds/YoshiFlower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A job at Rooster Teeth was the dream of many. Sometimes that dream was fulfilled, if they were lucky enough. And Celina happens to be one of those people. What starts off as a simple Lets Play channel turns into a new job at Achievement Hunter. But is it really what she expected? Were the fans really as welcoming as they seemed? She knew they weren't the perfect audience, but what had she expected in the first place.</p><p>(New chapter up every Saturday, but some breaks will occur.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was dark. Pitch black. Nothing but a never ending void. Celina didn't know why she was here, and quite frankly, she wanted to get out as soon as possible. It was just too quiet, besides the occasional moan and sloshing water. She just dug deeper in the darkness, hoping to reach some light source. She was honestly quite surprised with herself, letting something small like this get this big of a reaction out of her. It was something that she enjoyed. A lot. So why did she feel so scared. It just seemed so...pathetic. To let a simple game of Minecraft terrify her. She groaned to herself, noting how quiet she was for the last few minutes. She was trying to record a let's play, and she was focusing way too hard on the game in front of her.

"Sorry about the silence everyone, kinda hard to commentate and concentrate on what you're doing," Celina said aloud, not really directed to anyone in particular. Her eyes remained glued to the screen, watching her character dig upwards, making little side comments here and there. "Seriously though, how fucking long is this going to take, I've been digging for 10 years an-" she was cut off when her character mined one single block, and the darkness was replaced with a bright, reddish orange. The sudden sight of lava elicited a high pitched scream from the girl as she scrambled through the stuff in her inventory to block up the hole. She dropped the controller and buried her face in her hands, as the lava engulfed her character, dying within a few seconds. 

"I-I think that's it for this video guys. Sorry to cut it off short, I'm so done with everything right now. I'll see you all in whatever I play next. Hope you enjoyed?" The last part came out more as an unsure question, and she stopped the recording. Celina slumped back in her chair, running a hand through her hair. While she enjoyed recording let's plays, there were just some games that she despised doing solo. She loved each and everyone of her fans that she earned through the three years since she started the channel. They were all very supportive, minus the few haters. And she had an absolute thrill whenever her roommate, Sadie, would sometimes join her, but that wasn't very often. But if there one thing that annoyed her the most, it was editing. Youtube was Celina's only way of making money, and she couldn't afford those really advanced editing programs just yet. She always used the money for processors, games, consoles, and other shit she would need.

Celina pushed herself away from her desk and forced herself up, left her room, and down a small flight of stairs. The apartment she shared with her best friend wasn't all too bad. It had enough space, wasn't infested with bugs. The main complaint she had was the constant heat, but Texas was to blame for that. The air was actually tolerable in the evening, though.  
As soon as she reached the first floor, she was greeted with a blaring TV, Sadie laying down on the couch with her laptop, trying to focus on both screens at the same time. To say Sadie was her best friend would be quite the understatement. The two had known each other for 13 years, and still counting. Celina was more than happy to move into an apartment with the older girl, after attending college together.

"Sounds like you had loads of fun recording," Sadie spoke up, typing something on her computer. Celina huffed at the statement, walking over to the kitchen, earning a laugh from the other girl. "Come on Cece, you know I'm teasing!"

Celina ignored the last comment, opening the fridge, and shuffling through the contents. "Why the hell does it smell like moldy cheese in here, where did we go wrong?" she called, pulling out a can of Dr. Pepper. She joined Sadie out in the living room, flopping down on the other couch, taking notice of what she was watching. "Seriously, first season of Walking Dead?" she teased, opening the can. "I hope you know they already on season 4, almost done, actually."

"Yes, I'm fully aware, but I didn't have time to catch up on recent episodes until now," Sadie explained, directing her attention back to the show. Why do you think I always stayed in my room while you watched a new episode?" 

Celina scoffed, a little more dramatic than she intended, taking a sip of her drink. "What would you even be busy with, we're out of college. No more annoying papers that stressed everyone out 24/7," she shrugged, her voice holding just a small hint of bitterness to some of her previous professors. "And if you want to avoid spoilers, I would advise not going on Tumblr until you're officially caught up. A lot of people like to reblog those types of things without the read more, kinda annoying really."

"Does Nanowrimo ring any bells to you?" Sadie asked, looking over her shoulder towards her friend at this point. 

"You mean that novel writing event that happens once a year?" Celina replied with her own question, which was obviously rhetorical. "That thing does nothing but stress you out, and drain your creative juices. And then you overwork yourself, because you're too caught up with getting the damn thing done on time, and making sure it's nice quality. I despise Nanowrimo with a passion."  
The two had gone silent after that, Celina sipping away at her drink, and Sadie still typing. It wasn't the awkward type of silence. The silence they had was always comfortable, and neither minded it one bit. That's one thing the two admired about each other. They could be doing anything, and still be comfortable when around the other.

"I appreciate the concern, Cece," Sadie broke the silence after a few minutes. "But I feel like this is really improving my writing skills. And you can consider it practice if we ever become authors."

"I thought it already ended this year, why are you still writing for it?" Celina asked, ignoring the author comment. It wasn't like she didn't want to be an author. Literary college was nice, and she loved writing. But her current job with Youtube paid well, and it was something she enjoyed doing. She wouldn't be able to do it forever, but she could enjoy while it lasted.

Sadie's eyes scrolled across the newly written text, laughing sheepishly. "Well, I've been making adjustments to what I had written. With all the rush, it's hard to make it perfect quality, so I spend the free months improvising until November rolls by." she explained. Celina cocked an eyebrow at her, the conversation dropping after that, the two now paying full attention to the show. While the first season was pretty uneventful, it was still an awesome show.

"Just a random comment, but you have to admit. Rick is a pretty damn attractive character." Celina noted, hugging one of the couch pillows to her body. 

Sadie looked back over her shoulder, grinning at her friend. "Oooh, are those my shipping senses going off just now?" she teased, reaching her arm back to poke her friends shoulder playfully.

Celina narrowed her eyes, and swat at Sadie's hand, earning a snicker from her. "Hush woman, trying to watch this," Celina joked, eyes still glued to the show in front of her. "And a friendly note, if you start shipping me with someone from the show, you're getting shipped as well. This is how the game works." she added, watching the screen go dark, as the credits rolled.

Sadie pouted, closing her laptop. "That's not fair at all," she insisted, setting her laptop down to rest against a leg of the coffee table. "Anyway, it's midnight, I think I'm gonna head off to bed now. Pretty tired." she added, along with a small yawn.

Celina watched her friend get up, flashing her a soft smile. "I'll probably head up myself soon. Sleep well hun," she readjusted her position on the couch, and leaned in for a hug. Sadie returned the smile, and leaned down to return the gesture."I love you, you know that right?" Celina asked softly.

"It'd be sad if I didn't know by now," Sadie answered, before pulling out of the hug. "Love you too, sleep well yourself, okay?" she called from the flight of stairs, already halfway up. Celina shook her head with a small laugh after that, pulling herself up from the couch. She unplugged the downstairs appliances, threw her empty can out, and went upstairs herself. It was a long day today, and it would be tomorrow as well. She had a lot of editing to do, as well as record another video. 

She let out an irritated groan, throwing herself onto her bed. She didn't even bother changing into her pajamas. She slipped underneath the sheets, holding one of her pillows close, before turning out her light. She laid there, tossing and turning for the longest time, still cuddling with the pillow. Why was she so anxious all of a sudden? She could usually fall asleep pretty quickly. She rolled back over and looked at her clock, eyes straining against the bright digits.

12:43

She cursed way too loudly for her liking, slamming the pillow on her head. This was ridiculous. She flung her sheets off, turning her light back on. She quickly changed into a loose tank top and shorts, and sat at her desk again. She waited for laptop to start up, and then went straight to Youtube. After the page finally loaded, she went to her favorite channel, Rooster Teeth. While the companies videos were hilarious, she had certain videos in mind. Those made by the famous Achievement Hunters. The let's plays they put up were hilarious, and always put her in a good mood. 

It was always her dream to work here, ever since she started watching them. They were all such good friends, and the stuff they did was ridiculous. Celina knew that it was a slim chance. She wasn't nearly as funny as these guys, and was hardly well known on Youtube. Sure, she was close to a million subscribers, but she had her channel up for 3 years, starting it sometime in college. Sadie supported her full time, and always assured her that there was hope of them hiring her. While Celina appreciated it, she still had her doubts.

She shook the thoughts from her mind, and clicked the newest let's play for GTA V. Only a few minutes into the video, and Celina had to keep herself from laughing too loud, careful not to disturb her sleeping roommate. These guys were huge idiots, and yet, she loved every single one of them. She didn't want to be biased, but there was one guy in particular that she dubbed as her favorite. She always felt awkward talking about her infatuation, if she could call it that, for a certain Puerto Rican. In fact, Sadie was probably the only one who knew about her small "crush". She's pretty much made it her job to tease Celina at any given moment about the ship.

After a few videos, Celina finally turned her computer off at around 2 in the morning. She curled back into bed, turned her light off, and snuggled back into the pillow. Previous moments of the let's plays went through her head, causing her to snicker occasionally, before she eventually fell into a peaceful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly didn't expect this fanfic to get so many hits at chapter 1. 107, that's amazing! Thanks so much for this support, it means a lot, and it's the kind of motivation I need to continue writing. Hope you guys like chapter 2 as well, still haven't met the RT gang, but it'll happen!  
> Love you all, and enjoy~!

Celina moaned, shifting underneath her sheets. She had to pry her eyes open, blinking a few times against the harsh light. Her arm lifted up from her pillow, and lazily hit the snooze button on her alarm for the 3rd time, before finally sitting up in bed. it was already 12, she'd have to get up eventually. She yawned loudly, pulling herself off the mattress, and going downstairs, not bothering to change. 

"Good morning." Sadie greeted, not looking up from the kitchen bar. There were several sheets of paper in front of, a plate off to the side with a half-eaten, frozen breakfast meal. Her glasses were close to falling, and she kept writing frantically.

"The hell are those?" Celina asked, voice groggy, as she made her way to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

"Applications." Sadie's short, but blunt, answer came as a surprise to the other girl. Work applications? Already? They were only in this apartment for a month, and she's looking for a job this soon?

"You're already looking for a job? You know about my job with Youtube, I make enough money for us both to live here." Celina reminded, furrowing her eyebrows. From the looks of it, just the applications were overworking Sadie. She couldn't imagine what the actual job would be like.

"Yes, I know that but I feel bad that you're the only one doing actual work," Sadie sighed, setting the pencil down, and pushing her glasses up. "You'd be the only one paying rent, and I know how much you need the money. It sucks that I'm not helping you in any way."

Celina released a defeated sigh, running a hand through messy, tangled locks. There wasn't much of a point in arguing about this. Sadie's mind was set, and she wasn't backing out now. "Just don't overwork yourself." Celina said, pouring herself a cup of coffee, before going back upstairs. Sadie had called out a response, but Celina was already in her room. She sat back at her desk, turning her computer on, while taking small sips of her bitter drink. And then she got to work, opening up her editing program. 

~*~*~*

It was around 2:30 when Celina had finished editing at least 3 videos. She leaned back against her chair, stretching up until she heard a satisfying pop. She hummed contently, uploading one of the videos to her Youtube channel, before goofing off. She went on Tumblr, read fanfictions, watched some videos, and wrote a little. She drummed her fingers against her desk, deciding to check her e-mail. She scrolled down the new messages, deleting the ones she didn't really care to read. One of them, however, stood out to her. An e-mail from Roosterteeth.  
She didn't really think much of it. It was probably just one that they sent out to all the members of their site. And with that, she opened it up first.

"Hello Celina,

The employees over here at Achievement Hunter have taken notice of your Let's Plays, and are personally asking you if you'd like a job here..."

Her eyes continued to widen throughout the e-mail, her heart racing. They seriously wanted her on the team? They thought she was funny enough? They noticed her!?  
She felt a silly grin start to form, a giddy feeling taking over her.

"If you do choose to accept the job, please come in for an interview at your earliest convenience. It will then be decided if you're in.

Sincerely, Roosterteeth."

After finishing the e-mail, she let out a loud shriek, spinning around in her chair excitedly. This was too good to be true. She had a chance to work at her dream job! She could meet her idols!

Her thoughts were interrupted when Sadie burst into the room, one of her shoes in her hand. "Did you see a spider?" she asked hurriedly, eyes scanning throughout the room. Celina shook her head rapidly, pushing herself from the desk, and pointed at the screen. Sadie looked between her friend and the computer, before walking over to the desk, leaning down to read what was displayed. After a minute or two, her only response being a small, "Damn..." before she turned to face Celina. She had an equally excited grin as she engulfed the other girl in a hug. "I told you they'd hire you, I just knew they would!" she squealed.

Celina giggled, wrapping her arms around the other. "Yes, yes you did. I should've never doubted you," she said sarcastically, returning the hug. "But honestly, I admire how much faith you had in me. This is such a huge opportunity."

"Damn right it is," Sadie agreed, pulling away, but holding Celina at arms length. "So huge in fact, that this calls for a celebration, what do you say?" she beamed, obviously excited from the recent news.

Celina couldn't help but chuckle at this, shaking her head slowly. "Sure, why the hell not?" she asked rhetorically, shrugging. "Just give me a minute to reply, get ready, then we'll go, mkay?" she asked, to which Sadie responded with a nod, and left the room to get ready herself. Celina rolled herself back up to the desk, typing out her reply.

"Wow, this is such an honor. I'd love to come in for an interview! I don't have any plans tomorrow, so I could maybe show up at around 8:00, if that works for you. If it doesn't, I'm sure we'll work something out. Thanks for this opportunity, it means so much to me!"

She hit send, and went straight to her closest, pulling out a simple outfit, and rushed to the bathroom. As soon as she entered, she winced at the sight. Her brown hair was a total mess, and her clothes were disheveled. She cursed herself out silently, running a hairbrush through the bird nest. She brushed her teeth, and pulled the outfit on right after. Celina hurried down the steps, getting a pair of shoes from the hall closet. Sadie was walking down the steps, a lot more calm than Celina, by the time she pulling her shoes on. "So where we even going?" she asked, waiting for Sadie to get her shoes on.

Sadie simply grinned, opening the door to the apartment. "Just wait, I'll show you when we get there." she said simply, before walking out. Celina cocked an eyebrow at the vague answer, following the brunette outside.

~*~*~*

It was around 7 when the two girls came back in the apartment, laughing together. "Not gonna lie, that movie was pretty damn awesome!" Celina giggled, toeing her shoes off.

Sadie was right behind her, closing the door behind them. "I do believe that was a nice little celebration for you." she smiled, dropping a fast food restaurant bag on the table.

"To be fair though, I'm not hired yet. I just have an offer waiting for me," Celina reminded, walking over to the stairs. "I think I'm gonna record something real quick, later!" she waved, as she ran up the steps. She went straight to her room, and bent down in front of her game shelf. Her games ranged from different consoles. Whether it was PC, Xbox, PS3, she'd buy it. The amount wasn't too big, but Celina was always buying new games, her goal to finish all of them, and get all the achievements it came with. The last part was strictly for Xbox games, though. She was living the description of a stereotypical nerd. 

She decided to play The Last Of Us, pulling the game out, and getting set up at her desk. She swapped her Xbox on her desk with a ps3, and got the game ready, as well as her capture card to record everything. After about 30 minutes, Celina was ready to go, selecting her most recent save file.

"Hello everyone, Celina from CelyroGames here. And welcome back to more of The Last of Us. If you all remember, we left off on this one part that is taking me a bunch of millions of years to beat."


	3. Chapter 3

There was a growing knot in the pit of Celina's stomach. A knot that seemed to get bigger and tighter with each minute she drove to the Rooster Teeth office. Even though this was her dream jobs for a couple years now, she was still nervous. What if they didn't like her? What if the fans hated her? What if she was rejected? The thoughts had continued to nag her, somewhere in the back of her mind. She bit her lower lip, trying to distract herself from her own negative thinking. The whole concept of this was too far-fetched in her eyes. Working for the company that uploaded her favorite videos. The same people that could instantly make her feel better, whenever Sadie wasn't around. And they wanted her; her role models wanted to work with her.

Celina made sure not to overdo her outfit. She wore a simple red tank top, a black waist coat, skirt and flats. As an added touch, she had a few Achievement Hunter slap bands on one wrist. Her make-up was at a minimum, being some lip gloss, mascara, and eye-liner. Her brown hair was hanging loose for once, opposed to her usual ponytail, curling at the bottom and side bangs swept off. She wanted to look somewhat professional, but show she was also a fan of the group, but not shoving that fact down their throats. 

She hadn't realized how nervous she was until she reached the parking lot. She made a small sound of apprehension in the back of her throat, eyes gazing over her watch. It was already past 10. She mumbled to herself, turning the car's engine off, before getting out. Celina took one last glance at the tall, blue building before taking hesitant steps towards it. It was pretty awkward for her, being the only one outside, and the air was less than pleasant. The only sound she heard was the echo of her flats slapping against the ground. Each small step she took only increasing her anxiety of fucking this whole thing up.

As soon as she reached the door, she took a deep breath and pushed it open, the temperature being a nice change. She took a few steps inside, and noticed the blonde behind the front desk, busy typing something. Celina made a quick scan of the room around her, before approaching the desk. 

She cleared her throat, which grabbed the receptionist's attention. She looked away from her computer and smiled at Celina, and damn if she wasn't more pretty in person. "Name?" she asked.

"Celina Rose." Celina answered, doing her best to stay calm. Her hands were clasped together in front of her, as she twiddled her thumbs. 

The receptionist's smile grew slightly wider, as she gazed back at her computer, clicking something, and looking back. "Right, you have an interview with Burnie, I'm Kara," she beamed, sticking her hand out. While Celina already knew her, she decided to humor her and shook her hand. "Let me write down instructions to his office for you, one second," she got a stray sheet of paper, took the first pen she could, and scribbled down some notes on it. "There you go, good luck." Kara grinned, handing the paper over. 

"I'll need a lot of it." Celina mumbled, taking the paper. She said her thanks to Kara, and walked off, reading over the directions. A chorus of laughter, swears and screams came from a door, not to far from Kara's desk. She gazed over, taking noticed of the green star, with the silhouette of a retro style game controller in the middle. The ever famous Achievement Hunters. They must've been recording something at the moment. A small smile graced Celina's lips, as she continued walking. She followed the directions on the paper, and ended up in front of another door, one she assumed was the door to Burnie's office. She swallowed an on going lump growing in her throat, raising a hand to knock on the door.

"Come in," a voice rang out from inside the room. She was hesitant, but slowly opened the door, peering in. A man, looking to be in his late 30's sat behind the desk. An empty chair was on the other side of it. "You must be Celina, do take a seat," Burnie gestured to the empty chair, his smile welcoming. Celina nodded, closing the door behind her and sitting across from the man. "Now, this interview won't take very long, I just have a few questions to ask you."

~*~*~*

The questions were fairly simple. And Celina answered them the best she could. She tapped her fingers against her lap, waiting for any further inquiry. Burnie read over somBurniers carefully, and reached for something under his desk. "I think that just about sums up the interview, but there's just one more thing I need to tell you," he said, pulling up an Xbox game. "Geoff asked me to give you this. He wants you to play this, make a few videos of it on your channel, and you should be good on his end. Even one video should be enough." Burnie explained, as Celina reached for the game. 

Her eyes scanned the cover, raising an eyebrow at the choice. "I don't mean any disrespect, but 'Bee Movie Game'?" she asked, looking back up at Burnie.

The older man shrugged. "Geoff's orders. But once you got the video up, send me an e-mail and Kara will give you a call. She'll tell you whether or not you got the job or not. But that about wraps everything up, you're free to go now." he told her, warm smile back in place.

"Thanks again for this offer. Tell Geoff I'll try to have the video up as soon as possible." Celina nodded, getting up from her chair, and left the office in no time. She read over the directions again, going in the exact opposite of what they read, and she managed to make it back to the front door.

"Just a friendly little reminder. If you do get the job, you won't have to dress up that fancy. Remember, you'll be working with a bunch of guys, don't wanna give them any ideas." Kara spoke up, winking at the other girl.

Celina blinked, before chuckling a little. "Please, they wish they could have me." she joked, and with that, she left the building. She felt just a tad bit awkward carrying a game like this with her,but anything to get a job like this. She just knew it would be worth it all in the end, when she was in the office as well. Making dumb jokes, and laughing with the other guys. She got back in the car, started up the engine, and drove off.

~*~*~*

When Celina came into the apartment, in time to see Sadie hurriedly putting on a jacket and grabbing all of her work applications. "Just an assumption, but I do believe I came back at a perfect time." Celina chuckled.

Sadie looked up from the stack of papers, and broke out into a grin. "You're back, how'd the interview go?" she asked.

"Well, I think I did well but to actually get accepted, I have to do a Lets Play of this," Celina answered, showing her friend the game case. "I bet you'll do awesome with getting a job though, good luck hun." tossing her the keys, slipped her shoes off, and headed for the steps.

"Good luck with the game." Sadie teased, getting her stuff ready. Celina huffed at the statement, already running up the stairs. She could hear Sadie's laugh from the top floor, the sound soon muffled behind her bedroom door. She stared at the case for a while, before sighing. If this was what she had to do, than so be it. She switched the consoles over again, and set up everything she needed for her videos. Once everything was ready, she started recording.

~*~*~*

It was only a couple days since Celina uploaded the video and sent the e-mail to Burnie, and she was already having a mini freak out. She was curled up on one side of the couch, biting at her nails. Sadie sat next to her, wearing a Wal-Mart uniform. "Look, it'll be okay, I promise. The video you posted was hilarious, there's no way they can turn you down." she was trying her best to reassure her nervous fried, but the efforts seemed fruitless.

Celina ignored the statement, looking over her fingernails. They were all chewed off, and gave her a more sloppy look. She made a small sound at the back of her throat, and looked down at her feet. "Do you think I'm flexible enough to bite my toe nails." she asked, uncurling herself, and trying to bring her foot closer to her mouth.

"No, and I don't want you trying either," Sadie said, reaching over and pushing her leg back down on the couch. "This is just silly, Cece."

Celina pouted in response, folding her arms across her chest. "Well, at least you got a job, right?" she pointed out, readjusting her position so she was facing her friend. "Don't worry about me too much, I always have my channel. Whether they hire me or not, I'll be fine." she assured, a warm smile lighting up her features.

Sadie was skeptical, but nodded. "If you say so, I should probably be heading off to work now, anyway," she said, getting up from the couch. "I'll see you whenever I get off work, kay?" she called from the doorway, and Celina flashed a thumbs up in response. They both waved, and Sadie left the apartment room. Celina sighed, and slumped against the couch.

She decided to watch Netflix to pass the time, making some ramen for lunch. A couple hours passed, no call or text from Sadie. She spent enough time watching the same show to get bored, lazily setting her empty bowl on the coffee table. She was about to go up to her room to record something, when her phone started ringing. Celina fumbled to pull it out of her hoodie pocket to see who was calling. Not any number she knew, but it was in the area of Austin. Her eyes widened with hope, as she came to a realization of who it could be. Knowing that, she answered in an instant, excited for any news.

"Hello, is this Celina?" Kara's voice rang out on the other end, and Celina felt herself get even more giddy.

"Yes, this is me. What's up?" she asked, which earned a small laugh from the other girl. Trying to act casual did not play well in her favor. At all. She felt heat run up to her face, as she awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. Thank God Kara couldn't see her like this.

"Well, I'm sure we've kept you waiting long enough. And um..." Kara trailed off, her voice softening. "You got the job!" she suddenly shouted, surprising Celina in more ways than one. 

"I did!?" she asked in disbelief. "Are you serious right now?" Celina didn't want to second guess her, but this was too good of a dream to be true. Knowing she actually got the job, knowing those lovable idiots wanted her to work with them. Knowing that they noticed her.

"Well gee, I thought you would've been happy to hear all of this." Kara laughed, obviously joking.

"No no, I am," Celina answered. "I just never thought I would get this job, it's all a little too unreal." she laughed nervously.

"Don't worry, the guys talked it all over, and they'd be happy for you to join them. You can start tomorrow, even. If that all works for you." Kara said cheerfully. Celina could just hear that bright smile on her end, and the little smirk whenever she teased her.

"Yeah, that'd be perfect, actually. What time should I show up?" 

"Any time before 9 should work just fine. That's around the time when all the guys show up. See you tomorrow, Celina!" and with that final statement, Kara hung up. Celina dropped her phone on the couch, still in awe of what just happened.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgot to add the notes to the last chapter, but holy shit. We're getting close to 300 hits, incredible. Thanks so much for the support so far, and I'm sorry if I have any information wrong in this story. Such as Kara working as the receptionist, or anything like that, I'm just going off of my prior knowledge. But we meet more characters in this chapter, hope they're characterization is accurate enough!

Now that she was in front of the Rooster Teeth building again, Celina felt nervous all over again, despite Sadie's constant assurance that she would do fine. When she first told her friend she got this job, she kinda freaked out. In a good sense.

Following Kara's advice from when she was last in there, she only wore a hoodie, jeans and a pair of high tops, her hair up in the usual ponytail, side bangs framing her face. She wasn't the best in the fashion department, but it was better than nothing, so she stuck with it. One thing was for sure, Kara didn't tell her if she had to bring anything with her. Going with her gut feeling, she decided to bring in a bag anyway, in it being her laptop, 3DS, a small soda, some money, and whatever else she thought she'd need. She took a deep breath, before pushing the door open, and entering.

"Welcome back Celina, good to see a new face here." Kara was quick to greet her, her signature grin being the first thing Celina saw. Was she always this happy? 

"Hello to you too, Kara," Celina returned, nodding towards the receptionist. "Did I come in on time?" she asked, pointing towards the Achievement Hunter office.

"Right on time. All the guys are in there," she replied, gesturing a free hand at the door. "You can go ahead and walk in, Geoff will introduce you to everyone, so you don't have to worry about that." she assured her. Celina nodded, and took small, but quick steps to the front of her office. And she came to a realization. She was about to work with a bunch of new guys. People she didn't know completely. People that didn't know her at all. Celina despised new crowds, her shyness easily overcoming her, and turning her into an awkward shell of a girl. She bit her lower lip, hand gripping her bag strap tighter as she opened the door, knowing Kara was watching her expectedly. She peeked her head in, and sure enough, all six guys were in their respective positions. One thing that stood out to her was the new desk placed between Jack and Geoff's. It already had its own desktop, and game consoles set up.

The sound of the door opening seemed to catch Geoff's attention, because he turned his focus over towards Celina almost instantly. As soon as he noticed who it was, he took his headphones off and walked over to her. He must've been waiting. "You must be Celina. Sorry about the mess in here, the idiots get destructive."

Celina laughed at the statement, nodding. "I get this distinct feeling that when you say idiots, you mostly mean Gavin." she joked, sticking her free hand in her hoodie pocket.

The joke earned a small chuckle, and that was enough to bring her out of her shell a little bit. "Sorry it took so long to get back to you. We've been busy ordering your new desk, and setting it up." he tilted his head towards the new desk. That explained it.

"Hey Geoff, who you talking to?" an all to familiar voice spoke up, and damn. She was nervous all over again; self confidence shrinking down to what it was before she entered the office.

"Guess I should introduce you to them now," he gave her an assuring smile, before turning to face the others. "Alright everyone, remember when I said we'd be getting a new member here?" a chorus of "yeah"s followed. Celina fidgeted nervously behind him, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. She took a glance back at Kara, who gave her two thumbs up. "Well, allow me to introduce our newest Achievement Huntress, Celina Rose." Geoff stepped out the way, giving her room to walk in.

Celina kept her hand in her pocket, as she awkwardly walked up next to him, smiling at the group. "Hey everyone," she spoke up, waving with her free hand. Some of the guys beamed back, the rest returned the wave. "I look forward to working with you all." 

Geoff laughed at this. "No need for formal greetings, the expectations here are really low," he told her, eliciting a sheepish laugh from the girl. "You guys can introduce yourselves to her later, for now, focus on editing. I'll get her set up." he told them, and Celina went over to the desk, plopping down in the chair. A comfortable chair, at that. She set her bag under the desk, ad waited for Geoff's instructions.

After he closed the door, Geoff rolled his chair over to her desk, making sure they both room. "So what do you think, like it?" he asked, patting the wooden surface. "It's not Ikea, thank god. But feel free to add anything you want to it. Pictures, figurines, whatever."

She snickered at the Ikea statement, agreeing mentally. "Yeah, it's awesome. You guys didn't have to go through the trouble, though." she said, running a hand over the smooth surface herself. It really was a nice desk. She couldn't wait until she could start adding stuff to it. Hell, she was thinking about taking stuff from her desk over here.

"Don't worry about that too much, let's just focus on getting you set up, alright?" he asked, and she nodded. The fandom wasn't kidding when he was the father of the group, in more than one sense. She felt comfortable around him, and she admired that. For now, she turned the desktop on, and let him guide her through everything she would need to know.

~*~*~*

Time seemed to pass all too quickly, while Celina was editing an AHWU, with Geoff's assistance whenever it was required. She wasn't keeping track of time, but someone caught her attention, bumping his chair into hers."What's up, newbie." Ray's voice was clear, even over her new set of headphones. She was busy focusing, she didn't notice the absence of the other five.

She slipped her headphones around her neck, looking over her shoulder. "I dunno man, what is up?" she asked, before getting a better look around the room. "Where'd everyone else go?" 

"Lunch, you didn't notice them leave?" for whatever reason, he seemed to find that hilarious. "I felt bad about leaving you here by yourself, so I was gonna offer you to have lunch with me and the lads." he shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Was he this shy around new people?

She blinked, looking at her screen, then back at him. "Sure, that sounds fun!" she accepted, reaching down for her bag.

"Awesome!" he cheered, pumping a fist in the air, while rolling his chair back over to his own desk. "You also don't have to worry about bringing your bag, everyone here is trustworthy. Except Caleb, never trust a screen looker." he joked, earning a small giggle from the girl.

"Don't worry, I'm just getting this, can't say no to a few streetpasses." she replied, pulling out her aqua blue 3DS. It was hard enough finding one of these. It might as well been the last one in stock, seeing as how the color was discontinued. She found herself lucky in the end though. No matter how much trouble she went through to find it, it was worth it in the end.

Ray blinked at this, and started shuffling through his own bag. Celina cocked an eyebrow, getting up from her chair. She opened her mouth to say something, until he shot back up, his own pink 3DS in hand. "Hey, it'll give us something to do in the car, right?" he shrugged, goofy smile breaking out. Celina held back a laugh, simply shaking her head slowly. 

"Ray, hurry your ass up!" Michael shouted from the other side, shocking her. They must've been talking for a while now. It hadn't been that long, was it? Or was she going insane?

"Uh, guess we shouldn't keep them waiting," Ray broke the short silence, getting up and walking to the door. "Come on, we have this to look forward to at least." he grinned, holding up his DS, before slipping it away in his hoodie pocket. She did the same and followed him out of the office.

"Took long enough dude, me and Gavin were standing out here for 10 minutes waiting," Michael began, before shifting his gaze to Celina. "This explains a lot, you got her to talk to you?" he asked sarcastically. "Whatever man, it's good to see you socializing I guess. Think of this as a little welcoming gift on your first day." he stuck his hand out for her, and it was a nice gesture, even for her.

"I appreciate this guys, thanks a bunch." Celina took his hand, and shook it. Michael's somewhat serious expression vanished almost instantly.

"You don't have to be so serious. You obviously still have a lot to learn if you're gonna be working with us." he snickered, retracting his hand. Celina felt some heat go to her face, and she tugged at her hoodie collar awkwardly. Seemed she did need to get adjusted to this. After the small conversation, the three guys led her outside, Gavin lagging behind the other two, walking next to Celina now.

"You're first day working here, what do you think so far?" he asked, stuffing his hands in his jeans pockets. He seemed so relaxed. Even if he wasn't the brightest in the office, she still held small admiration for him whenever she watched Lets Plays.

"So far, so good. I've had a warm welcoming, and I appreciate that a lot. To be honest with you, though, Kara does act like the young sister. Don't get me wrong, she's adorable, but she has her moments." she replied, toying with her DS.

"You don't have to be so formal, love. We've all seen some of your videos, and you act completely insane." he said, looking down at her. The mention of her channel was certainly a surprise for her. They all watched her videos? All 6 of them? She always thought it was just Geoff.

"Well gee, Gav, way to make a lady feel better about herself," she faked a pout, slouching over the tiniest bit. "And you guys saw those? Why would you watch those? I am 99.9 percent sure I was high on something when I filmed half of those." she murmured, burying most of her face down in her hoodie.

"Bloody hell Celina, don't be so down on yourself! I thought the videos were fantastic. Just between you and me, I think Ray enjoyed them the most." he leaned down, whispering the last part in her ear.

She paused a little after that, looking back up at him, and only now noticing how short she was. Well damn, now she gets to be the shortest hunter. Or huntress. Whatever, point is is that Gavin was pretty damn tall. "From now on, I'm calling you Gayvin. I've decided this a long time ago." she smirked, before sprinting to catch up with the other guys.

"Gayvin?" he asked himself, dumbfounded at the new nickname. "Where in the hell did she get that from?"

~*~*~*

"I just find it amusing to see a small version of yourself, running across the screen with a sword, while you have a pipe on your head," Celina had long given up on containing her laughter on the drive back to work. Her and Ray legit spent the entirety of lunch on swapnote, and had finally street passed on the way back. "Why do you even have a pipe?" she shook her head, as she went back in the building.

"Isn't it obvious? I use it for blazing." Ray half answered, half laughed, following her inside, Michael and Gavin trailing behind the two.

"Ah, yes, of course," she rolled her eyes playfully, walking back in the office. "As if it wasn't obvious, knowing you." sarcasm dripped from her voice, but of course, she wasn't being serious. She grew a lot more attached to the lads, even if she didn't talk much to the other two. They were lovable idiots in the videos, and they were lovable idiots in real life. She wasn't about to get her hopes up too soon, but it seemed like they liked her as well. Well, liked her enough to consider her as a friend, at least.

"Eeey, lads and the newbie are back," Geoff announced, spinning his chair to face them. "So, what do you think of the new girl?"

"Chick's awesome." Ray started, patting her on the shoulder, before going back to his desk.

"She's alright." Michael shrugged.

"I think she's top!" Gavin chirped.

"I think they're all idiots." Celina said, plopping in front of her desk, slipping her headphones back on, leaving her DS in her hoodie pocket. Back to where she was, editing. She was going over the clips fans would send in, deciding on which ones she would add, when her phone buzzed. She fumbled to get it out of her jeans pocket, and noticed it was tweet.

@AH_Michael: This is literally how these two spent their time at lunch.

Celina cocked an eyebrow, clicking the link for the picture, eyes widening. Oh god, he took a picture. He took a fucking picture of her and fucking Ray on their 3DS. Welp, she was screwed. She mentally groaned, slipping her phone back in her pocket, ignoring another tweet that popped up. This was gonna be a looong week.

@BlawnDee: @AH_Michael She's not even done with her first day, and I can already tell what her first ship is going to be!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say for this chapter, except for mentions of the Mad Kind Ryan lets play. I wrote this chapter way before the Lets Play came out, so it won't be accurate. Sorry about that, readers, but I hope you enjoy reading it regardless. The support means a lot to me!

The week had gone by at a surprising rate. Before Celina knew it, it was already Friday. And she didn't know a better way to spend it. Despite how much she hated doing actual work, she loved her new job; she couldn't be happier working with those guys. She opened up so much with them, and they were all more than happy to welcome her. And the fans seemed to have a huge reaction of a huntress. That, and the picture of her and Ray. She still got nervous whenever a fan would ask her about that. Celina didn't know how close they were on her first day. Quite literally. They were sitting particularly close, arms almost touching. And it bothered her that he hadn't seemed to notice the amount of attention it was receiving. Either that, or he was just really calm about the situation. It was probably normal for everyone else there, so why was it so bizarre to her? 

The air held a small chill to it, the occasional gust of wind being a drastic change for the Texans. Celina didn't really mind the cold temperatures, having spent more than half of her life up north. It was hard enough getting used to those temperatures, but she managed to get at least semi comfortable with them. Comfortable enough to keep her hoodie sleeves rolled up to her elbows, at least.

The walk to work was an agonizingly slow. Leaving a good hour early was probably a good idea after all. She and Sadie didn't really live close to the building, but Celina was fine with walking. She knew her friend would need the car to get to work, so a long walk was worth it.

She felt a small wave of relief wash over her, when she saw the building in the distance. She immediately quickened her pace. It wasn't like she was going to be late; she would actually be there early, if she kept this pace. Celina always felt a mix of emotions whenever she walked into work. It was strange, and way too new for her. She always felt excitement to work with her new co-workers. She always felt giddy to see the new friends she made over the past week, mostly with the female side of Rooster Teeth. Ad no matter how cool she thought she was, she always felt awkward when talking to familiar people. She was really living the dream, and she couldn't have been happier.

~*~*~*

"Ooh, someone's early," Kara spoke up, as soon as Celina entered. "You're one of the first ones here. Busy with editing, or are you excited to see a certain someone." she leaned over the front desk, winking at the other.

Celina rolled her eyes, and stood across from her, leaning against the desk herself. "Yeah, right, I have someone to see. Certainly not you, Kara," she teased, poking the blonde's shoulder playfully. "In all seriousness though, I hope you realize you're saying that to the girl who's about as sexually and romantically active as a curtain."

"Don't be like that, guys are totally missing out on you," Kara insisted, now playing with one of Celina's side bangs, twirling it around her index and middle finger. "And you never know, a lot of couples here were between two employees, usually good friends. Or a bet, maybe. Not too uncommon." she shrugged, obviously used to the daily life in this office.

"That's sweet, but I hardly doubt any of the guys here would want to date me. A lot of fish in the sea, you know?" Celina pulled Kara's hand away from her hair, and guided it to the wooden surface. "I should get to work now, see you at lunch, maybe." she beamed, waving at the receptionist a final time, before walking the short distance to the office. She went inside and saw Geoff, Gavin, and Jack were already seated and working.

"Good morning, Celina!" Gavin beamed, turning towards her the minute she came in. Over the week, she learned that Gavin was the affectionate type. Really affectionate. He acted like a protective, older brother for her, and that's how she saw him.

"Morning Gayvin," she greeted, giving his shoulder a pat when she passed him. She took a seat, put her headphones on, and turned the desktop on. "Morning Geoff," she got a small grunt in response. Too early, she guessed. During the past few days, Geoff got a bit more comfortable, if you could call it that, with Celina, and acted the same way he did when he was around the guys. He was, of course, still a fatherly figure to her. "Morning Jack." she finished addressing everyone in the room, warm smile still present.

"Someone's early," he responded, with a small laugh. Jack kind of made up the second parental figure in the office. He was very caring, but he could be funny when he wanted to, and she admired that.

"Ah well, you know, earlier you start, earlier you finish," she shrugged, focusing back on her computer, opening up her editing program. "At least, that's what I was told at school. I was also told to never trust my teachers, so this is very conflicting right now." she murmured, mostly to herself, but Gavin laughed regardless.

She was halfway through their GTA V Lets Play when Michael walked in, Ray coming in after a few minutes. "Hey Ray!" she greeted, waving at her friend. If she were to give her honest opinion, Ray was still her favorite. He was back when she watched the channel, and he was now. He was a very hilarious and sweet guy, and she couldn't believe that she was friends with him.

He chuckled at her eagerness, and returned the wave. "Hey Celina." he replied, going over to his desk. She hoped she hadn't come off as clingy after day one. He didn't really seem to mind her enthusiasm whenever she was around him. Or he just didn't notice.

"So Geoff, what's the schedule for today, any recordings?" Michael spoke up, still focused on his own editing. Contrary to what half the fandom thought of Michael, he was a real sweetheart. Even if Celina wasn't exactly as close with him as he was with Gavin, she could still trust him. He was also really good with advice, and she had to go to anyone in the office for it, he was her first choice.

"One recording, which will be memorable for the fans, since this'll be Celina's first Lets Play with us," he answered, which surprised the girl. She knew she'd be in a Lets Play eventually, she just wasn't expecting it to be today. "Another Minecraft one, King Ryan again. The fans seem to want another one of those. We just need him to set up in here first." he explained and without question, Gavin bolted out of the room. Celina guessed he was telling Ryan to come in the office.  
There wasn't really any reason for her to be nervous. She had her own Lets Play channel for 3 years. She's known these guys for a week now. And she was already in one video for the channel, being a recent AHWU. And the fans blew up over it, a good majority being delighted for a new Achievement Huntress. While the rest were pretty neutral.

"So your first Lets Play, you excited?" Jack asked. She wasn't even sure how to answer that. Her feelings over it were conflicting, ranging from excited to nervous. Although, one emotion ruled over the others, that's for sure.

"Fuck yeah man, this'll be awesome!" she answered with avidity.

"Dude, watch her kick our asses." Michael laughed, imagining it now.

"Celina will always kick ass," Ray chimed in. "I want to be on a team with her."

"Hell yeah we'd have a team," Celina insisted. "We could be... we could be team...uh...team Hot shot, or some shit like that." she decided, now deep in thought. Well crap, she was going to be in teams now, so of course she'd have team names.

"Team Hot Shot it is." Ray chuckled at the choice, but didn't object at all. That must've been a good sign, right?

Soon after, Gavin busted back in the room, with Ryan in tow. And finally, there was this guy. The Mad King to some, and a gentle giant to others. He was usually very quiet, and rarely swore. Just like everyone else, he was a very loving guy. Even though Celina didn't know him that well, either, she always hoped they could be at least borderline friends.

"We ready to start?" Gavin asked, huge grin breaking loose.

~*~*~*

"Is it just me, or is this one request fucking impossible?" Celina murmured, currently fighting a Skeleton. Leave it to Ryan to give them something difficult. The "king" had requested a full set of enchanted armor. She was just grateful they could use the Enchantment Table from their previous Lets Plays.

"You're not the only one." Michael grunted, having his own struggle with the request. Celina groaned, her Minecraft character, being a wolf, wandering around the world aimlessly. She had everything except for boots, and she had yet to find the Enchantment Table.

"Seriously, where the hell is this thing?" she asked, mostly to herself. And just as she did, a small patch of the world in front of her loaded, revealing what she was searching for. She let out a small sound of excitement, before realizing how bad of an idea that was. "Oh crap, something hit me," she said quickly, playing off her small mistake. "What little bastard did this."

"Slightly suspicious Celina may have found something useful." Jack stated, with a small chuckle.

"Ey, no, fuck off," Celina ushed out, grinning. "You fuckers better stay away from me." she said in the most serious tone she could manage, failing at sounding threatening. She mentally sighed in relief when she finished enchanting the armor she already had. She had plenty of levels from all the previous monsters and ores she passed. Now she just need enough iron to make boots, enchant those, and make it back in one piece. Ryan, of course, decided this would be a challenge where they could kill each other.

Celina chose a spot not to far off from the enchantment table, and started digging down, in search of the ore. The others were talking around her, and her only contribution to the current conversation was a small laugh when necessary. Something about Gavin lost in a cave and not being able to see.

She was currently searching around one cave, placing torches where ever she needed them, a sword ready if she encountered anyone or anything. At some point while she was wandering, she heard a distant explosion, followed by the ever famous Gavin scream. And theeen, the message showed up.

"Gavino Free blew up"

"Holy crap, thank god for that creeper," Celina huffed, continuing her search. "I could hear the explosion, dear christ!" she chortled, finding the situation to be rather hilarious.

"The sad truth is is that Celina is probably way ahead of me," Geoff spoke up. "I don't even have enough leather for a pair of boots, where the hell are all the cows at?"

"The sad truth is is that even though I have somewhat of a good start here, I'll probably lose this challenge by a few seconds," she joked. "I feel like all of you are after me now, I feel very threatened."

"Nah, not everyone," Ray assured her. "Team Hot Shot is still in effect, no one will mess with us!"

~*~*~*

It took some time time, but Celina managed to get every piece of armor she needed, enchant it, and was already close to the throne. She couldn't believe she made it this far in the challenge without being murdered. Just a few more feet.

"Celina's about to win!" Gavin yelled, obviously not too far from her. She let out a small squeak of surprise, and started sprinting. Dammit Gavin!

"Than kill her, asshole!"

"I'm trying, Michael!"

A chorus of "Micool" followed after the statement, while Celina continued sprinting closer and closer to the safe zone, someone hitting her only sending her closer. "Oh wow, you're just screwing yourself even further when you do that, Gayvin," she joked. "Thanks for the boost there, I owe you one," she smirked as soon as she entered the safe zone, Ryan missing. "Oi, my liege, I have returned with the requested armor." 

"I'm on my way." Ryan announced. A few minutes after he said this, she spotted Ryan's Minecraft character come bounding over one of the walls, and she tossed each piece of enchanted iron armor to him. A few seconds passed before he put each piece on. "Ah, yes, these will work just fine," he confirmed, walking up to the throne, and opening the chest. "As a reward for your efforts, here's a piece of the Tower of Pimps." and with that said, a gold block was tossed towards her.

Gavin let out an audible groan at this, and Celina huffed. "Hun, I only have 2 blocks, it's not like I won the olympics here." she told him, walking over to her obsidian block, and placed the new gold block on top.

"Shout out to the London Olympics Lets Play." Ray quipped, and the former challenge was forgotten as everyone made their way back.

~*~*~*

Celina blinked at her screen a few times, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Had she honestly won? How did that happen? This wasn't just beginners luck, was it?  
She even double checked the name behind the tower, and sure enough, it was her name.

"Damn, I told you guys she would kick our asses," Michael said, making his way back to the throne."Didn't I say that?"

"Her first day competing, and she already won, god damn," Geoff cackled. "So wait, who had the tower before this?" he asked.

"Last time we competed was in twelve towers, so it'd be you, Geoff," Ryan told him, not even holding back a smile at that.

"Oh, fuck me!"

"Celina's been awful quiet through all of this."

She blinked again, focusing on what was happening once again. "Don't mind me guys, just rolling around in the glory," she finally spoke up. "Hell yeah, you fuckers don't stand a chance against the wolf."

"I guess that ends the Lets Play, lads." A chorus of "Let's stop!" and the recording was done. Celina retrieved the tower from Geoff's desk, much to his own dismay, and the group carried on with editing.

She was able to finish the video she was previously working on, and sent it over to Geoff, taking note of the time. And at the exact moment, her phone alerted her of a text. She pulled it out of her hoodie pocket, and read over what it said.

Barbara: You ready to go?

Celina: Yep! Gimme a second, and I'll be right out.

"Yo, Celina. You wanna come with us to lunch, again?" Michael asked, and she turned her chair around, noticing Gavin had a look of excitement, and she almost felt guilty. She always went with the Lads to lunch, always. It was almost a tradition, and they all seemed glad to have her with them. She was pretty much apart of the group at this point.

"Sorry, but I can't make it today. Barbara and I are already going out to eat together. Promised her. Monday, though, I swear." she told them. Gavin slouched in his seat, smile fading just a hint.

"Don't be sorry. Just promise us you won't be spewing horrible puns when you get back." Ray told her, and she snickered at the comment.

"Will do, bye guys!" She got up from her seat, giving Gavin a small pat on the shoulder, and left the office. She left the building, and was greeted by her blonde, pun loving friend.

"There you are, ready to leave?" Barbara beamed, jingling her car keys.

Celina laughed, nodding. "Yup, ready if you are." she answered, and the two walked the short distance to Barbara's car, all while having a small conversation, with an occasional pun. The two made it in the vehicle, Barbara started up the engine, and then drove off.

"So any plans on where to go?" Celina asked, pulling her phone out, going through her contacts.

The blonde tapped a finger to her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "How does In-N-Out burger sound?" she responded with her own question.

"That's sounds good, so long as you agree not to carve dicks into the table." Celina quipped, starting a new text message.

"No promises." Barbara snickered, along with Celina. She was shaking her head at her friends response, fingers tapping away at the keyboard.

Celina: Hey, me and Barb are going to In-n-Out burger. Do you want anything?

Ray: Whoa, that was fast. And I know we're buds and all, but you don't have to.

Celina: C'mon, think of this as a small gift for not hanging out with you guys.

Ray: Well, couldn't say no to some fries. ;)

Celina: You're an idiot...


	6. Chapter 6

She didn't know what to expect. She knew it would happen sooner or later, but she didn't really know what to think of it. But it just seemed...too soon. Way too soon for her. It was still Friday, and some time had passed since she had returned from lunch with Barbara, and it was nearing time to leave. She honestly had no clue why she bothered to stay longer, but it was was probably a good thing to get more editing in. It seemed like a good idea at first, but it soon got to that time. A time she wasn't really prepared for.

"Well guys, I think we've spent enough time here, we all heading out to the bar tonight?" Geoff spoke up, turning his chair around, and resting his back against folded arms. And that was the one thing Celina was dreading. She spent four years in college, and seeing what alcohol did to you, she had no desire to try it.

"Sorry fellas, this huntress doesn't drink," she answered, saving her progress on her current edit, and turned the computer off. A small "woop" came from Ray's corner. "Grew up with a dad and sister who would drink pretty frequently, if you were wondering. Four years in college with drunk bastards every weekend is a leading factor, as well."

"Dude, she's broken like you!" Michael joked, directed towards Ray.

Celina giggled at the scene, and slid her headphones off, grabbing her bag. "Oh, what the hell, I guess I'll come with you guys. Couldn't hurt!" she decided, getting up from her seat. The guys all let out a small cheer, and she responded with a "shut up."

"You can go ahead and head out. You might wanna stop by your place to drop your things off. I'll text you the address, don't worry." Geoff told her, waving her off, and spun his chair back around.

"Sounds good, see you guys soon, than." she waved, before leaving the office. She said a quick bye to Kara, before walking out of the building. A moment of realization hit her, as she remember how far her apartment was from work. She let out a groan, and started jogging down the sidewalk.

~*~*~*

She struggled with unlocking the door, but got in nonetheless. She wet up to her room, and lightly tossed her bag on her bed. She checked the time, and cursed silently. Not enough to take a quick shower, but nothing a change of clothes and deodorant couldn't fix. 

She changed into a simple Achievement Hunter shirt, jeans, and another hoodie, keeping the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She got her phone, wallet and keys, and left the apartment, locking it behind her. As soon as she left the building, her phone started to vibrate. Right on time.  
She checked the text, and sure enough, it was from Geoff. She read the address, and beamed. It wasn't very far at all!

She walked the short distance, the sky slowly darkening. She was starting to regret this decision, not exactly comfortable walking down these streets this late. Maybe she could just get a cab to take her back.

As soon as she made it inside the bar, she was immediately called over by the guys, all sitting at a booth. She waved at them, speed walking to the booth. "Hey guys, hope I didn't miss anything." she greeted, sitting down.

"Hey Celina!"

"Great to see you, love!"

"What's up, newbie."

"Hey, Rose."

Everyone greeted her separately, and they immediately broke into conversation. They weren't terribly drunk, thank god, but Gavin was leaning close to it. Ray was drinking a soda, and Celina had gladly ordered her own. While this wasn't a place she would really feel comfortable with, the guys made it enjoyable. She made sure to send a quick text to Sadie, saying she would be home late.

It wasn't long until the intoxicated men left, Ryan sticking by for a little bit, leaving the two sober ones behind. "You know, you don't have to stay here with me. If you wanna hang out with them, you can go ahead." she reminded Ray, taking a small sip of her soda.

A small chuckle from him. "Nah, don't sweat it. Staying with someone who's sober sounds much more appealing, anyway." he reassured her, pulling his phone out.

She smiled at that, and directed her attention to the 5 men dancing. The only one that seemed too intoxicated was Gavin, almost falling over with each step. She couldn't help but laugh at this. The music that was playing had a catchy beat to it, she thought. But one thing stood out to her. A small, stifled laugh by her side, that could belong to one person. "What's so funny?" she asked, looking back at her friend, only to be greeted by the back of his phone. "What are you doing, Ray-Ray?"

"Recording. Come on, RT life, the fans wanted to see more of you," he explained, and she groaned, pushing the phone away. "Well damn, shows how much you care about the viewers." he joked.

"Ray, shut up. You know I don't do well in front of cameras," she insisted, folding her arms, looking anywhere but the phone. "And I love the fans, they're all awesome."

"Well than, can you do one small thing for them?" he asked, and she sighed in response, nodding. "Say hi to them?" he smiled softly.

Her brows furrowed, and she shifted her weight in her seat awkwardly. "So long as that first part gets edited out," she finally agreed, looking straight at the small camera, clearing her throat. "Hey guys, it's a Friday night and I'm stuck at a bar. Cheers," she raised her soda up in between her and the phone. "We also got some idiots over there dancing, far more interesting than this girl, right?" she asked rhetorically, shrugging her shoulders.

~*~*~*

An hour passed, and Celina was more than happy spending it with Ray. They were still at the bar, the other 5 still enjoying themselves. She didn't know if it was possible, but she found herself laughing harder than she had at any of the other videos he starred in. And she was definitely not regretting the decision of going.

"So what do you say, Rose. First time hanging out with us at a bar, opinions?" Ray asked, finishing off his drink.

Celina cocked an eyebrow at him, gesturing towards the other 5. "You realize I'm hanging out with you more than the guys. Besides, too drunk for my taste. Except Ryan, he's pretty chill."

"Yeah, he doesn't really drink that much when we come over here, so he's kinda like our designated driver."

"That because you don't drive, hun?" she teased, poking his ribs with her elbow, smirking. It was common knowledge that Ray didn't really drive, as he chose to live in an apartment close to work. Whether he did know how to was beyond her.

He shook his head, brushing her arm away. "Man, how did you ever survive college," he chuckled. "Glad I dropped out."

"You dropped out?" she asked, before holding her hands up, as if surrendering. "Everyone in this bar better watch out, we got a badass here," she said sarcastically, hands dropping back into her lap. "But really, you dropped out?"

"Yeah, stayed for a while, but I didn't really know what I wanted to study," he shrugged. "Only went because my parents wanted me to go to a college, but it didn't really work out."

"Well, I guess you're lucky that you did drop out," she admitted. "Not saying college for me was all that bad, it's just the drunk people got a little out of hand, literally the only time a guy flirted with me."

"You serious?"

"Completely serious."

"Damn, messed up college you went to."

Celina wasn't sure how to take that comment. He was either talking about the drunks, or the fact the guys would only flirt with her because they were drunk. She decided on the former, thinking it was a more logical choice. "Well, I had fun. College is a pretty interesting place, minus all the stressful work the professors give you," she shrugged, sipping her drink. "Besides, I had my best friend Sadie with me. She was an awesome dorm mate." she laughed a little at this, recalling a few moments she had with her friend back in college.

"Sadie, that's your room mate, right?" he asked, and she nodded, still lost in thought. While Celina never directly mentioned her room mate's name to the guys, other than "best friend", she kept a picture of the two on her desk. It was kinda lame, but she still adored it.

"Me and her are pretty close, we've known each other for 7 years now," she explained, twiddling her thumbs in her lap. "She's like a sister to me, I care a lot about her, you know?"

It was amazing, for the both of them, how the conversation was nothing but laughing for an hour, then went to serious. Neither of them objected to this, and kept it going. "I know that feel, Rose," he agreed. "It was like that with me and Michael."

"Yeah, you two were really good friends. What the hell happened?" she asked, with a small laugh. "It's just, Gavin shows up, and you two hardly hang out as much, it seems."

"Nah, I don't really care either way," he assured her, swinging an arm back to rest on the booth, directly behind where Celina sat. "Besides, we got a new member of the Lads I can chill with. Team Hot Shot?" he held a fist up, goofy grin breaking loose.

She had hardly acknowledged the arm behind her, staring up at him with a small bit of shock. He thought of her as a good friend? He thought of her as a member of the Lads? More importantly, he wanted to "chill", whatever that meant in Ray terms. 

She smiled back at him, not sure how to feel about this situation, or the man in question. It's true, she had a crush on him back when she watched the videos, but she was trying her damn hardest to get over that since she got that call from Kara. There was no way in hell he'd feel the same, but he was making it very hard for her, by pulling stuff like this out of his sleeve.

"Team Hot Shots." she finally said, connecting one of her fists with his.

~*~*~*

It was around midnight when she had finally gotten home, the door unlocked when Celina got there. She opened her mouth to call for her friend, immediately pausing when she spotted Sadie passed out on the couch. She sighed, shaking her head.

"Poor girl, working long hours," she murmured, creeping over to the couch. She got a blanket that was resting on the other one, and draped it over her friend. She evened it out, making sure it covered her whole body. After that, she bent down, brushed some of the brunettes hair from her face, and planted a small kiss on her forehead. "Love you hun, sleep well, and don't over work yourself." she muttered, knowing full well the other girl wouldn't be able to hear her.

She quickly went upstairs, tossing her bag gently at the end of her bed, changing into a tank top and shorts, before getting settled in front of her computer. She turned it on, and went straight to Youtube. Pleased that the Minecraft Lets Play was able to make it up in time today, she made a mental note to watch it later.

After checking her e-mail, she decided to check Twitter before she would fall asleep. She didn't necessarily want to seem like a hot shot at all, ironic considering her team name with Ray. But she still checked through all the tweets that she was tagged in, most of them from friends, and most of them from fans. And she wasn't going to lie, seeing all the nice comments made her feel really happy. Well, she was, until she reached a few tweets in particular.

"@Celyro hasn't really been contributing to any of the videos, she just doesn't seem to fit in at all"

"i bet @Celyro doesn't even watch their videos or play games she's just some piece of garbage the company picked up off the street. honestly thought @Achievementhunt could do better

"that fat bitch @Celyro should just go die in a hole"

Celina blinked at these comments, biting into her lower lip, shaking her head. She told herself to not let these comments get to her. They were just trolls who didn't have anything better to do. She wouldn't let them get to her, and she wouldn't try to kill herself because of them. She had haters back on her old channel, so this was no different.

She let out a yawn, turning her computer off, and climbing into bed. She cuddled with the stuffed animals that lay next to her, enjoying the softness. They were just trolls. She wouldn't let them get to her. They couldn't break her, they just couldn't.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small, friendly remind here. Spring break has finally started for me, and I'll be visit Oklahoma, during that time, I'll be busy next Saturday since I'm getting the chance to meet an online friend of 5 years for the first time. I don't know yet how that's going down, but there may not be a chapter next week, sorry about that!  
> In other news, how would you guys feel about me writing a South Park fic? I started watching the show last month, and grew attached to it. I would still be writing this fic alongside it, so you wouldn't have to worry about that.

A small groan left Celina's lips, as she raised a hand to rub her eyes, slowly opening them. She stretched her arms above her, her back popping. While the feeling was satisfying, it also made her wince. She threw the sheets off, and trudged out of her room, not bothering to brush her hair. A familiar smell hit her as soon as she went down the stairs, peering over the kitchen bar. And there was Sadie, standing over a pot, cooking ramen.

"Morning, was it nice sleeping in?" she asked, peering over her shoulder for a few seconds, before going back to cooking. Celina made a noise in the back of her throat as a response, flopping down on one of the couches, and turning the TV on.

"Don't have work today?" she finally asked, her voice raspy, burning her throat whenever she said something.

"Nope, don't work on the weekends. Thank god," Sadie sounded relieved, and Celina couldn't blame her. Considering the long shifts she had to work, and how busy Wal-Mart could get, it must've been tiring on her. "So did you have fun at the bar?"

She paused at that, moments from last night coming back to her. Hanging out with all the guys outside the office, watching 4 of them get drunk off their asses, and her little bonding time. She smiled at the memory, ignoring her friend's question. Sadie snickered, shaking her head at the lack of response. "Look, Sadie, that's not important right now."

"Well, I noticed I got here before you did, you must've been out late." Sadie said, and Celina thought about that for a moment. Was she really out that late? Sadie's shift ended at midnight, and she couldn't remember what time she had actually left the bar, let alone what time she got home.

"Yeah, guess I was." she muttered, barely audible enough for Sadie to hear. The conversation ended there, with Sadie still cooking, and Celina lost in her own thoughts. She wasn't even paying attention to the show any more, just hugging a couch pillow to her, and burying her face into it. She didn't know why this, of all things, was bothering her. She had fun that night, so why was it eating at her? She didn't mind hanging out with the guys. She didn't mind them getting drunk around her, despite her dislike toward drunks. She didn't mind bonding with Ray. And it couldn't have been the comments.

"Don't over think last night, you'll get a headache doing that," Sadie broke her train of thought, setting two bowls of ramen down on the table. "Might want to let it cool down some." 

Celina looked up from the pillow, at the bowl, then at Sadie. "You didn't have to make me any, you know." she reminded the other.

"I know, but I still did it," Sadie replied simply, blowing against her food softly. "What're we watching, anyway?" she asked, studying what was on the TV.

"No clue, whatever channel was on," Celina shrugged, reaching for the remote. She flipped through the channels, and the two decided on a movie channel. A few hours passed with both watching random movies, and making random commentary. "Oh shit, this one has explicit content," she laughed. "Gotta hide the kids from it."

"No need to tell me twice." Sadie remarked, getting both empty bowls, and heading back to the kitchen. Celina was still giggling to herself, and her phone vibrating almost went unnoticed. In her small fit of laughs, she reached for her phone and read over the new text.

Ray: Hey Rose, did you want to hang out, get some lunch maybe?

Celina: Sure, sounds fun! Anyone else coming?

Ray: No one else was free. Guess it's just Team Hot Shot.

"Who you texting?" Celina jumped at the sudden voice, pressing her phone flat against her, hiding it from view. "That's not suspicious at all." Sadie chuckled.

"It's just a co-worker. They invited me to lunch with them." Celina told her, getting up from the couch.

"So you're leaving me here to slay over Nanowrimo?"

"Would you rather come along and meet them?"

"Touché"

Celina ran back up the stairs, got a change of clothes from her room, and went into the bathroom. She quickly, but lazily, brushed her hair, then her teeth, and changed. She went back to her room to discard her sleeping clothes, and grabbed her hoodie, pulling it on. After that, she got her wallet and phone, slipping them both into her hoodie pocket, and dashed downstairs.

"Any idea how long you'll be out?" Sadie asked, already on her laptop. Celina simply shrugged, grabbing the car keys.

"Knowing Ray, I'll probably be out for quite a while," she answered, only realizing the mistake after she said it. "Wait..."

"Oh, so you're hanging out with him, hm?" Sadie smirked. Too late. "You two seem awfully close. It's like you're just asking me to bring up that old ship."

"Me and him are just buds, of course we're close. And no, I don't need that ship mentioned, it'll make everything awkward for me. Why must you hurt me in this way?" Celina asked rhetorically, opening up the door.

Sadie simply chuckled at that, and waved at her friend. "You know I love you, have fun!" she beamed, and Celina waved back.

"I'll try my hardest, see you whenever I get back, and I love you too." and with that final statement, Celina was out of the apartment. She left the building, and went straight to her car, pulling her phone out. When she got in, she immediately sent a text over to Ray, before starting the engine.

Celina: Quick question, where we going out to eat?

Ray: I was thinking about Home Slice, you up for that?

Celina: Don't have to ask me twice, I fucking love pizza.

Ray: Who the hell doesn't? I'll probably be there somewhere around 5.

Celina pulled out of the parking lot, putting her phone back in her pocket. She vaguely remembered the address from all the times she and Sadie would go. She kept an eye on the time, not wanting to keep him waiting for too long. She even pulled up the location on her phone, assuring herself she was going the right way. It would have to be close to his apartment, seeing as he walks everywhere.

She soon spotted the restaurant ahead, and mentally wished she was on time. The short drive between where she was in traffic and the pizza place was filled with impatient groaning and Celina checking the time every few seconds. When she reached the restaurant's parking lot, she immediately spotted the familiar face, leaning back against the wall by the entrance, doing God knows what on his phone.

She smiled to herself, turning her car engine off and getting out. "Hey Ray-Ray, I hope you weren't here for too long." she greeted, eagerness clearly showing.

Ray's head shot up at the mention of his nickname, and grinned back. "Not really, got here a while ago actually," he assured her, leading her to the entrance. He pushed the door open, and gestured for her to walk in. "Ladies first."

~*~*~*

They both decided on a medium pizza, with minimum toppings that they both could agree on. Celina was on her second slice, Ray on his second, the two joking about whatever came to mind.

"I remember coming to this place all the time back in Baltimore. Except they were trying to be original and slick by spelling it with a "y" instead."

"Doubt it'll compare to the ones in New York."

"That is not even a fair argument, alright. New York has everything up there."

Ray chuckled at that, and went back to finishing his own slice. "Gotta admit, this was pretty fun, Rose," he spoke up, taking a swig of his Dr. Pepper. "Personal opinion here, but Geoff and Burnie didn't make the mistake of hiring you."

Celina blinked, before laughing nervously, ducking her head away so her bangs covered her face from view. "That's, uh, very sweet of you, hun." she stuttered, her mind flashing back to the comments about her. About how it was really a mistake to hire her. About how she didn't fit in. About her weight. And just like, whatever bit of self-confidence she previously gained vanished.

"Whoa, someone's shy. You alright there?" he asked rhetorically, sarcasm evident. She chewed the inside of her cheek, and forced herself to push those thoughts away.

"Jerk, you should already know this." she said with mock anger, reaching across the table to playfully punch him in the shoulder.

"Whoa, whoa. Watch the violence" he quipped, grabbing his "wounded" shoulder in fake pain. Celina smirked at him, shaking her head with a small laugh, and went back to eating.

~*~*~*

An hour passed, and the two had finished off the pizza, leaving the restaurant. Both satisfied and beyond full, still talking as they stood outside of Celina's car.

"Well, this was fun, not gonna lie," she beamed. "Thanks for the offer, probably would've been stuck at home watching movies or recording."

"Don't mention it," he replied, sticking his hands in his jeans pocket. "Beats sitting around, doesn't it?"

"Wow, that's a shocker coming from you. Thought you would've preferred playing video games," she teased, leaning back against her car door. "But jokes aside, I'll you on Monday?"

"Yup, Monday. Hope you're ready to get back to work. See you later Rose." he gave her a pat on the arm, before walking off. She waved at him as he was walking, and fumbled to get her keys out of her hoodie pocket. The familiar jingling hit her ear as she slipped them out, unlocking her car door, and sliding in the seat. She started the engine back up, and pulled out of the parking lot.

She was in the middle of traffic when she felt her phone buzzing. Expecting a text, she pulled it out and quickly read over it. Nope, not a text. A tweet. She narrowed her eyes at it, and waited until she was at a red light to reply to it.

@AH_BrownMan: Just now getting back from lunch with @Celyro. See you on Monday, bud!

@AH_Michael: @AH_BrownMan Someone mark down this moment as their first date. #Raylina

@Celyro: @AH_BrownMan @AH_Michael I hate all of you...


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers! Guess I was able to get another chapter up! There was a slight change of plans with meeting my online friend. It still happened, just on Friday instead. We had a lot of fun, and I'm glad I can get this chapter up for all of you! I know i don't really reply to comments, but I'd like to thank you all for this support. I don't think I'd get this far without you guys, you're all really amazing readers, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

She didn't know what was wrong with her. She was just fine on Saturday. And on Sunday. But today? Celina wasn't feeling too hot. To start the day off, she couldn't get any sleep at all. She would always wake up in the middle of the night, and continue tossing and turning to find a comfortable position to sleep in, but to no avail. So she was exhausted by the time her alarm finally went off. She tried making pancakes for breakfast, but that shit ended up tasting like eggs, and she ended up throwing the rest out. So she was hungry by the time she had to leave to work. And she was not looking forward to the walk to the office. Mondays just weren't her type of day.

Despite her current mood, she still kept a fast pace going to the office, not wanting to be late. Of course, she could've called in sick, but that would've raised some small suspicion. Especially for Ray, since he hung out with her two days ago. She groaned inwardly, running a hand through her bangs. It was gonna be a long day, she thought.

The walk was too long for Celina's liking. The thought of moving to an apartment closer to the building crossed her mind several times, as well. But doing that would mean Sadie would be further away from where she worked. And that was something she didn't want to force on her best friend, even if she did have access to the car. She mumbled to herself, pushing those thoughts away, and checking the time. Almost 9 already. She mentally cursed, breaking out into a run, which proved to be quite taxing on her physical and mental state. Her lungs were burning, her legs were numb, and her headache continued to get worse. With each running step, her backpack was slamming against her lower back, not making the experience any more enjoyable.

She felt as though she was gonna vomit any minute, and a small bit of relief flooded her as she spotted the Rooster Teeth building ahead of her. Ignoring her minds protests, she ran as fast as she could to be able to get there somewhat on time. It was already past 9 at this point, and she didn't want to add on to that.

As soon as she reached the building, and pushed open the doors, she was leaning over the front counter, trying to catch her breath. Kara was a bit surprised by this, reaching over to rub her arm. "Whoa, you feeling alright?" she asked, her genuine concern somewhat lifting Celina's mood. "The guys already showed up, some of them were asking where you were at. Did something happen?"

"No no, it's just..." Celina gasped out, waiting for her heart to calm down. She hadn't run that far since High school, that's for sure. She swallowed a mouthful of air, pushing herself off the counter. "Me and my roommate live pretty far from here, and she needs the car in the morning to get to where she works," she explained, forcing at smile. "Got up kinda late, long run. But I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." she assured the other, patting her hand.

Kara still seemed suspicious, but nodded anyway. "I'll tell Burnie why you were late, he'll understand. I got your back!" she grinned, and Celina chuckled at that, before heading off to her office. She gave a small wave to Kara, before stepping inside.

Gavin was the first to notice, tearing his headphones off, furrowing his eyebrows at her current state. "Are you alright, love?" he asked, gaining the attention of the others. 

"Whoa, Celina, you feeling okay?"

"Dude, you look wiped!"

"You're never late, is everything alright?"

A nervous laugh escaped her lips, as she scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "Um, I'm really sorry about coming in late, guys. I kinda over slept, and it's a long run from my apartment to here, so I'm a little out of it. I'll be fine, though, don't worry!" she smiled, hopefully reassuringly, plopped down at her desk, and setting her bag down under it. The first part was a lie, of course, but it gave her somewhat of an excuse for her absence.

"You know, if you aren't feeling well, you can always ask Burnie for the day off," Geoff reminded her. "Cause I'm gonna agree with the idiots here, and don't take this the wrong way, but you look like shit."

Celina narrowed her eyes in mock anger towards the statement. "That's good on the self-esteem there. Yup," she replied sarcastically, turning her computer on. She looked back at her boss, his expression remaining concerned. "I'm flattered you guys are worried about me, but really. I'll be okay?" she told them, a little annoyed.

"So you're still good to record?"

"Of course!"

Geoff let out a sigh at that, not completely convinced, but returned to his own work. "I hope so, we're recording an AHWU today, possibly a GTA 5 if we have time." he announced, and Celina mentally kicked herself. She could hardly focus right now, how the hell was she going to focus during a recording? For now, she could only hope.

~*~*~*

With just enough time before their lunch break, the crew had started a recording for Grand Theft Auto, much to Celina's distaste. The AHWU was bad enough, Gavin pulling her out of her chair to make a cameo in the video. And now she was stuck in this recording, which she hoped was close to wrapping up. King Jack this time. She hadn't really been paying attention to the commands, and had just wandered aimlessly through the world, following the lead of whatever the others were doing. She remained silent through a good portion of it, adding her own commentary when necessary, and laughing when someone made a joke. But that was it on her end.

At the moment, she was busy searching for the airport. The guys had apparently needed a plane for the challenge, and she was currently on the hunt for one. She had toned out the rest of them, biting her lip in concentration. Not bothering with stealing any vehicles from anyone, she remained focused on her running character, eyes darting around the screen and on her map. It's true she was lagging, but she didn't know why this was so difficult now. She's beat this game before. She could find the airport just fine before now. She could recognize her surroundings in a heart beat. Her lack of attention would be quite clear to whoever would be editing, and that killed her. She didn't want them to see her like this, and keep asking if she was okay. She didn't want them worrying about her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the guys erupted in cheers. What the hell just happened. They were silent like, five minutes ago, she thought. "Looks like Gavin won that one, congrats buddy," Geoff said between laughs, reaching for a notepad and pencil, scribbling something down. "Alright, current results. Michael now has a K-I-N. Ryan has a K-I. Gavin, Ray, and I have a K. And surprisingly, Celina has yet to win one." he read over the notebook, tossing it back onto his desk, along with the pencil.

"She's been pretty quiet lately." Ryan noted, and she swallowed nervously. Yup, it was happening. The one thing she didn't want was happening.

"You guys can go ahead and continue on with the next challenge. I need to get some coffee real quick." she announced, sliding her headphones off, and got up. She paused her game before quickly walking out of the office. A quick wave to Kara, and she was on her way to the kitchen.

She was trying to clear her head, leaning on one of the kitchen counters, resting her head in her hands. Waiting for the coffee to heat up. and for her headache to subside, she was unaware of the sneaking footsteps behind her. She only noticed when the person slammed their hands down on the counter next to her, scaring her half to death.

"Hey Celina!" the voice, belonging to Lindsay, made her wince, her headache getting worse. It wasn't that she didn't like her. She honestly loved the girl to bits. But she hadn't been in the best of moods, and she didn't want to come off as bitter to Lindsay.

"Hey Linds," she turned to face the red headed cat lover, returning the girl's smile. "What's up? Taking a break from editing?" she asked, watching the girl walk over to the fridge, and pull a soda out.

"Came to get a drink before I headed back," she explained, walking over to Celina, and leaned back on the counter next to her. "What's going on back with the guys? You keeping them in line for me?" she teased, poking the girl's arm with her elbow.

Celina chuckled, getting a mug from one of the cabinets, and pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Recording at the moment. Came back here to get some coffee, though," she replied. "And don't worry about me keeping them in line. They're practically my bitches." she added, her expression completely neutral.

Lindsay snickered at the joke, before heading off. "Well, I should get back to editing. Talk to you later, hopefully!" she said, before leaving the kitchen. Celina waited until the other girl was out of sight, before going back to her coffee. She added some milk and sugar until satisfied, and headed back to the office. Upon entering, she was greeted by another chorus of cheering.

"Well damn, I leave for a few minutes and come back to this." she joked, sitting back at her desk, setting her coffee down, and putting her headphones back on. The first thing she noticed was that her character was in a different spot than where she left off. Must've died somehow, she'll figure it out when the video is uploaded.

"Aw man dude, you missed it," Geoff grinned. "Michael won the last challenge, and Gavin fucked up so bad." after he said this, he burst out into laughter again. She raised an eyebrow at that and turned to look at the brit.

Gavin was pouting from the teasing, but it was obvious he was faking. "Jesus, that was mental!" he exclaimed, and Celina snickered, turning to face her screen. She took a small sip of her coffee, and swooped her controller back up.

"So does anyone know how I died?" she asked, changing the subject. "Because I remember being on the sidewalk before I left. Now I'm just, oh, baise-moi..." she trailed off. "I'm in the middle of no where. What happened!?" another chorus of laughter.

"Yeah, that may have been me. Sorry about that, Celina." Ryan chortled, but sincere nonetheless. Well, he was honest at least, she thought.

"Man, she's speaking in different languages now. We really fucked her over." Ray laughed, earning a small one from her.

"Dude, it was french. Come on Ray, keep up."

"All right, that concludes this let's play. Congratulations Michael!" a few more side comments from the guys, silence on Celina's end, and the let's play was over.

"So who's stuck with editing that?" Jack asked, and Celina looked over at her boss. A part of her wanted to get it, and another part of her didn't. She realized that whoever was stuck with it would notice her not actually paying attention to the game. But this was also a pretty long recording, and she already had to work on a Let's Build. 

"I don't think Ray is editing anything currently, so he can start on that after lunch." Geoff announced, checking the time. Celina mentally cursed herself out. Of course it was him, she thought. It always was, wasn't it?

A tap on her shoulder, and she whipped her head around, looking up at Gavin. "You still up for lunch with the Lads?" he flashed her his signature, goofy grin. And it'd be a sin to decline that face.

She looked back at her coffee, took a swig from it, and got up. "Of course, this is a tradition now, isn't it?" she asked, and followed the three men out of the office. She would probably end up getting something small, depending on where they went. She wasn't really all that hungry, but she didn't want to turn them down, especially when she didn't have an excuse for not going. Besides, it gave her time to clear her head, and hopefully rid herself of this god awful headache.

~*~*~*

Her eyes burned. Her headache had gotten so much worse. Her hand hurt from constant use. And she was left with just one thought. Why did I stay in the office this late? By the time she got back from lunch, she was already editing the newest Let's Build. Ad it was a really long one, at that. She had spent a good 3 hours on it, and was only halfway done. And that was at 6:00.

Celina rubbed her eyes, trying to wake herself up, and fumbled for her phone, checking the time. 9:57. She let out an irritated groan, slipping the device back into her pocket. She was grateful to have the editing done, but now came the long part. Fucking rendering. She hated this process with a strong passion. She had been waiting for a long time now, and it was only at 45%.

She pushed herself away from her desk, and left the office to go to the kitchen, unaware of one employee, who was still editing as well. She strolled over to the coffee maker, already starting the process, and waiting for the finish. In that time, she had got a mug ready, as well as some milk and sugar. The coffee finished heating up, and she started mixing in the milk and sugar.

"Didn't know you were still here," she let out a small squeak, dropping the spoon and nearly spilling the drink over the counter. She spun around and saw Ray at the entrance, smiling softly at her. "Never got that reaction before." he teased.

She forced a small laugh, and picked the dirty spoon off the floor. "Sorry, just didn't expect you to be here, I suppose." she said, tossing the utensil in the sink.

"Well this situation is just sad. We both work in the same office, and didn't notice each other," Ray said, walking over to the fridge, searching around inside of it. Story of my life right there, she thought bitterly. "Hey, uh, Celina, could I ask you something?" he asked, pulling a Dr. Pepper out, and leaned against the counter next to her.

The question was sudden for her, but she nodded regardless. "Yeah, what's up?" she had a distinct feeling she knew what this was about, but who knows? She could be wrong, and this could be something completely different.

"You know how I was editing the recording for today?" he began, avoiding eye contact. Fuck, it had to do with that. She nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "Well, I was going through everyone's footage, and it seemed pretty normal. And then I reached yours. You seemed kinda...out of it," he continued, looking at her now. "Now I've seen the videos on your channel, and you're pretty damn good at that game. Better than Gavin. But today...not so much. Are you sure you're doing all right?" he asked her, concern evident.

She swallowed a lump that was beginning to form, and stared down at her cup of coffee. "I was telling you guys the truth when I said I was fine. I really meant that, and I would never think about lying to any of you. You're practically my second family, and I love each of you very much," she sighed, running a hand through her side bangs. "But I had a pretty rough morning. I got up late, didn't have a very appetizing breakfast, and had to run all the way to the office just so I wouldn't be late. I live pretty far, and Sadie needs the car to drive to work. I was only like that because I was really exhausted, that's all. I appreciate the concern, but I don't want you guys worrying about me." she finished truthfully, still refusing to look up.

She flinched when she felt his hand clap down on her shoulder. It was gentle, but enough to surprise her. She looked back up at Ray, and was greeted with the same smile. "Hey now, don't sweat it. And why shouldn't we worry?" he asked rhetorically. "You said it yourself, we're your second family, it's our job to worry about the younger sister," he joked, and a small smile blossomed after that. They thought of her as family, too. "Now come on, I think I know something that might cheer you up." he started to leave the kitchen, waiting for her to catch up.

Celina blinked, raising an eyebrow at this. "Oh yeah? And what would this be?" she asked, following him back to the office regardless.

"That's a surprise, Rose," he chuckled, using the nickname he had given her during her first week in the office. And she may have gotten a little too fond over it. "Good guy Ray is feeling generous enough to give you a hint, though. How do you feel about shipping?" he asked.

"Depends, really," she shrugged, taking small sips of her coffee. "What ship we talking about?" she flashed him a questioning glance, following him inside the office, and closing the door behind her.

"Raylina."

"...You idiot." she muttered, feeling heat rush to her face. Ray chuckled at her response, sitting at his computer, already pulling up Tumblr. Guess she was stuck doing this with him, whether she wanted to or not. She stopped by her computer first, checking on the render process. 

67%

More than halfway done, that was good. "Hey Celina, I found a fanfiction, come read it with me." she smiled at that, shaking her head slowly. At least she got to spend this time with him.


	9. Chapter 9

Similar to Monday, Celina did not get enough sleep, and woke up feeling way worse than she did yesterday. If that was even possible. But this time, she didn't wake up to her alarm. It was her phone ringing. Had been for a while now. Her eyes widened in realization, and she scrambled from her bed, getting tangled in the sheets in the process. She crawled across her room and snatched her phone up, answering the call just in time. She cleared her throat, before speaking. "Hello?"

"I was starting to think you weren't going to pick up," Burnie's voice rang out on the other end. Why is he calling this early, she thought, getting up off the floor. "Some of the employees here have told me that you may need a break from work. I called to check up on you, how you feeling?"

Well, fuck. Word travels fast in the office, doesn't it? She scratched the back of her neck nervously, sitting down at her desk chair. "It's nothing major, just a headache. A little sleepy. Had to stay in the office late to do some editing, that's why." she explained, and there was silence on his end. She anxiously drummed her fingers against her knee, waiting for something. Anything.

"You can take today off," he finally spoke, and she almost choked. "Just get some rest for now. The others seemed worried about your state yesterday, but I'm still expecting you to show up on Wednesday." he stated firmly, and she bit the inside of her cheek.

"Yes sir," she stuttered, hoping it wasn't obvious. "I appreciate the day off, but if Geoff still wants me to edit videos, he can always send those over."

"No, no editing. It's your day off, we don't you to stress over it. Like I said, get some rest," he told her, a little more austere this time. "See you on Wednesday, bye Celina." and with that, the call was over. She groaned, rubbing her eyes, and tossing her phone on her bed.

"Better make the most of this day while I can." she said to herself, going through her dresser. After a small search, she finally decided on a My Little Pony shirt and sweatpants. She rushed to the bathroom, starting a warm shower. Stripping from her previous clothes, and brushing her hair and teeth real quick, she stepped in the shower. 

The water was warm, gentle. She let out a content sigh, staying under the shower head for just a little bit longer, before grabbing her shampoo. After rinsing that through her hair, scrubbing on body wash, and shaving, she was done with her shower. She turned the water off, wrapped a towel around her, and got out of the shower. She dried her hair off, and put it up with a hair clip, put on her change of clothes, and left the bathroom.

The vague smell of grilled cheese greeted her from downstairs, and she knew Sadie was still home. Well great, she's gonna ask questions, Celina thought. And telling her the truth would only raise worry.

"Celina, you out of the shower?" Sadie called. Dammit.

"Yeah, I'm up here." she called back, slowly going down the stairs. The aroma got stronger with each step, and she could hear other voices now. Probably the TV. She reached the bottom floor, bare feet hitting the cold tile flooring. Downside to having stairs right in front of the door.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Sadie teased, once she spotted Celina walking by the kitchen. A small grunt. "So what're you still doing here? It's almost 9, shouldn't you be at work?" she asked, continuing with her cooking.

"Normally I would, but I had to call in sick. Don't really feel good right now," Celina lied, faking a cough after it, and threw herself on the couch. "I feel like I'm gonna die." she muttered.

The "sick" comment caught her friend's attention immediately, and Sadie whipped her head around to look at Celina. "Do you want me to call in sick for work as well?" she asked. "I could stay her with you, we could watch movies and stuff, until you start to feel a little better." she offered.

Celina held back a laugh at this. She was always told she was the better friend by Sadie. But in all honesty, she wasn't. Sadie was. And she always felt like she didn't deserve her as a friend, and a sister. "I couldn't ask you to do that, really," she assured, shifting herself on the couch so her face wasn't planted in the cushion. "I don't want you to miss work because of me. I'm sure I'll be fine here by myself."

Sadie furrowed her eyebrows at the other, but slowly nodded in response. It was silent between the two girls after that, Celina flipping through the channels, and Sadie still in the kitchen. This went on for a few minutes, until Sadie came out with a plate, setting it on the coffee table next to Celina. She blinked at the plate, and stared at the other girl in confusion.

"Just focus on getting better, I'll see if I can get off work early for you," Sadie smiled gently, heading over to the door. "See you whenever I get off, I'll call you whenever I get the chance, all right?"

Celina gave a curt nod, and waved. "I'll keep my phone with me. See you soon, I hope, love you." she kept her hand up, but folded her middle and ring finger.

"Yeah, hopefully. Love you too." Sadie repeated the gesture, before heading out. Celina sighed, letting her head drop back onto the cushions. Her eyes flickered over at the grilled cheese for a brief second, before she pulled herself up off the couch, and quickly ran upstairs. She went into her room, got her phone, and dashed back down the stairs. The food was left uneaten, as she started Netflix up.

~*~*~*

Several hours passed with Celina just watching random shows. Her little marathon started off with Walking Dead, the moved onto to Ouran Highschool Host Club, and Avatar. Hell, she even gave Sailor Moon a shot. She was still waiting for a call from Sadie. The two had texted for some time, but that was cut short an hour ago, much to Celina's discomfort. She always hated being home alone, and the conversation she and Sadie were having, through text, gave her a small bit of assurance. At least she could occupy herself by watching random shows on Netflix.

She was about to start watching My Little Pony, when her phone started vibrating. Hope washed over her, thinking it was Sadie. She scooped the phone up immediately, and read over the name. Ray. Not Sadie. While she was disappointed, an indescribable emotion hit her as soon as she saw the name. She was pleased, nonetheless.

Ray: Hey Celina, what time is it?

Celina: Um...4:20, why?

Celina: ...Oh my fucking god, did you just?

Ray: Just blaze!!!

Celina: You suck.

Ray: To be fair, you walked right into that.

Celina: Sounds like you're asking me to replace my best friend at work, hun.

Ray: Ouch.

Ray: But seriously, all of that aside, I got off work early. What's up?

Celina: Not much, really. Just watching random crap on Netflix. 

Celina: Sadie's at work and it's pretty lonely over here.

Celina: ...Ray?

She stared at her phone, waiting for a response. By now, it was 4:29, and still nothing. Probably just busy. She shrugged it off, and started watching her favorite show. She never saw the big deal about MLP just being for kids. Sure, that was the intended audience, but it had some pretty fucking dark episodes. And Celina didn't care what anyone said, it would always hold a special place in her heart. Her favorite moments, though, was when Sadie would watch a few episodes with her. She wasn't as involved with the fandom, but that was fine. They weren't always going to have the same interests, right?

Two episodes passed, and she was about, when the distinct vibrating started up again. She let out a groan, uncurling herself to reach for her phone. She read over the text, cocking an eyebrow at it.

Ray: Just for future reference, what apartment do you and your friend live at?

Celina: Um...

Celina: Northwest Hills...why?

Celina: .....

Celina: God dammit Ray!

She huffed in irritation, tossing her phone back on the couch. She started another episode, and curled back up with the couch pillow. Some time passed where she stayed in this position, thinking over his text. And that's when realization hit. She let out a small squeak, tossing the pillow in some random direction, and rushed up the stairs. In a hurry, she pulled on one of her hoodies, and back down the stairs. She was probably jumping to conclusions here, but she didn't want to take any chances.

Heading back over to the couch, she unpaused the cartoon, and managed to finish the current episode without any distractions. So that's a plus. She kept checking the time frequently, feeling more anxious with each passing minute. Her eyes scanned over the living room, landing on the plate, grilled cheese still left uneaten. It wasn't like she hated Sadie's cooking. The two had a lot of practice in college, and she made some pretty good meals. But she couldn't bring herself to eat it, and she didn't know why.

A soft sigh from the girl, and she picked the plate up. Might as well save it for later, whenever she is hungry. She was walking over to the kitchen, when a knock came from the door. Hearing the all too familiar sound caused her to freeze up, looking in the direction of the door. She muttered to herself, setting the plate down on the kitchen bar, and walked over to the front door. Opening it half way and peering her head around it, she was greeted by a rather sheepish Ray. One hand was in the pocket of his hoodie, the other holding a plastic bag, clearly filled with something that Celina couldn't quite see.

"Surprise?" it came out more as a question, him shrugging awkwardly after. Celina blinked at him in awe, before a smile broke loose. She opened the door all the way, stepping aside to let him in. His smile grew, and he gladly walked in, observing the apartment. "Nice place." he stated simply, strolling over to one of the couches.

She chuckled slightly, closing the door, and returned to the kitchen, grabbing the plate and a plastic sandwich bag on the way. She slipped the small sandwich in the bag, a very distinctive laugh came from the living room. "What's so funny, hm?" she asked, placing the grilled cheese in the fridge, and going back to the plate.

"My little pony, huh?" he said between laughs, and she nearly dropped the plate, stuttering out an incoherent reply. "Don't be embarrassed. me and Mike love this show too."

"Oh really, now?" she replied with mock sarcasm, placing the plate in the dish washer, and stepping back out in the living room. "Well, if that isn't the cutest thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is." she teased.

"Important question, who's the best pony?" he asked, searching through the bag. A small clacking sound, and she immediately knew what it was. Video games. He came over to play games with her. Damn.

"In my opinion?" She asked, standing by the free couch, exiting out of Netflix. "I gotta say Fluttershy. She always was, and always will be, my favorite." she stated, matter-of-factly. 

Ray's search through the bag was abruptly paused, and he straightened himself, feigning shock. "You..." he trailed off. "You're dead to me." he finally finished, and Celina laughed at that, going to stand next to him.

"So, Ray-Ray, what'd you bring?" she asked, hooking a finger on the rim of the bag, slowly prying it open. Some of the games were more clear. He didn't bring a whole lot, but it obvious they were Xbox games.

"Hey, no peeking!" he scolded, swatting her hands away. "You can see in a minute, but uh, you may want to get an Xbox set up." he added, looking back at the TV, noticing the lack of one.

She huffed, folding her arms, and marched off. She went back upstairs and to her room. Getting the 360 down was going to be a pain in the ass, she thought. Mumbling to herself, she started to unplug it, and gathered all the wires she would need. She placed those on top of the Xbox, along with two controllers, and carried that downstairs.

"So like, I'm not complaining about the sudden visit," she began, kneeling in front of the TV, and getting the console set up. "But if you don't mind me asking, why'd you decide to come over?"

A squeak from the couch, followed by an awkward chuckle. "Well, you said it yourself, you were lonely," he explained. "And I gotta look out for the younger sister. Have to stick together, you know?"

She rolled her eyes at the last part, plugging the console in. "So, what should we play first?" she asked, looking over her shoulder. "Just a reminder that I have some games myself, if you want to look through those later."

Ray looked over at the bag, shuffled through what was inside, and finally decided on one. "How does Halo sound?" he asked, flashing her the case. She shrugged, and nodded, and he tossed the game over to her.

"You're on, Ray-Ray," she chuckled, sticking the game in, and joining him on the couch. She handed him the other controller, and started the game. "You're on."


	10. Chapter 10

Wednesday morning was surprisingly more pleasant, as compared to Monday and Tuesday, and Celina was more than pleased about it. And she never thought she would say this, but she was actually excited to go into work. Sure, she wasn't looking forward to the walk, but it was worth it in the end. Although, she had a nagging feeling that her "play date" with Ray could've been a leading factor for the sudden excitement. But she chose not to think about that, and focus on getting ready.

She did her morning routine, consisting of getting changed, brushing her hair and teeth, and making a quick breakfast, a simple batch of pancakes. After eating her fill, she left the rest of the pancakes on a plate for Sadie, positive she was up. She got her shoes on, grabbed her bag and keys, and quickly left the apartment building.

The cool, January air crashed into her almost instantly. But she found it soothing, in a way. She couldn't quite figure out why, but she always loved small gusts of wind, no matter the temperature. She smiled to herself, and began the long walk towards the office. At least she wouldn't be late this time.

~*~*~*

It wasn't long before she reached the Rooster Teeth office, and was instantly greeted by a bubbly blonde. "Celina, you're back!" Kara exclaimed, eyes shining, and her signature grin was present. "How you feeling? You're not late, so that's an awesome sign!"

Celina couldn't help but laugh at her, stopping by the front desk like she always did. "Great to see you again, Kara!" she returned the grin. "And I'm doing a lot better, thanks for asking. I think that day off really helped." she nodded.

"You know, a lot of people here were worried," Kara's voice sounded sympathetic, and Celina was touched to hear that. "I'm sure they'll be glad to see you feeling better."

"Well, it's great to see you again Kara, but I should probably head to the office," she pointed over towards the Achievement Hunter room, and the blonde nodded. "See you around." with that being said, Celina was already walking to the office, and Kara went back to her own work.

She opened the door to the office, and saw everyone, minus Ryan, at their desks. "Heeey, guess who's back!" she greeted, closing the door behind her, and the guys were quick to return it.

"Celina, come here real quick, I need to tell you something," Geoff spun in his chair to face her, and started gesturing for her to come over. She did as told, setting her bag under her desk, and pulled her chair up next to Geoff's. "So I've been reading some of the feedback from fans, and a lot of them really seem to like you," he told her, grinning. She stared at him for a few seconds, before laughing nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "As you already know, we usually record a Let's Play of some random game on Wednesday. But I was thinking about letting you play a game yourself, you can have someone from the office record it with you, though." he explained, and she processed the new information.

"Does it have to a be a certain game, or...?" she trailed off, waiting for his answer.

"Well, since it's technically your own recording, in a way, you'll get to pick the game," he nodded. "If you want it to be an Xbox game, it can be Xbox. Want it to be PC, it can be PC. Whatever makes you comfortable."

"There actually was one PC game that a lot of my viewers wanted to see on my channel," she noted, thinking to herself. She never really had a strong desire to play it, but it couldn't hurt now. "Only one question, you guys won't mind some "minor" shrieking?" she asked, putting air quotes around "minor."

Geoff chuckled at that, shaking his head. "You shouldn't worry about that, we won't mind," he assured her, before getting back to editing. "You can start recording whenever, you might want to make an announcement about it though."

She thought about that, rolling her chair back to her desk, and started her computer. She put her headphones on, but left one ear uncovered, and logged onto Steam. She bought game before when it was on sale, just in case. But she was already feeling anxious just looking at the game's cover. And the few trailers she saw for it didn't help at all, either. She sucked in a big breath, before pulling the game up.

"Alright guys, I'm about to start recording," she spoke up, minimizing the game down, to pull up her recording program. "Fun times, fun times." she muttered, regretting the decision almost immediately.

"Doing your own Lets Play, huh?" Jack asked, still focused on his own editing. "What game you playing?"

"Slender the Arrival. Some sequel to the first, from what I've heard," she answered, getting her mic ready. "But hey, it's got a story line, so I'm not complaining." she shrugged. Everything was set up, and she once again stated that she was starting now. The guys wished her good luck, and she started recording, and pulled the game back up.

~*~*~*

"Oh my god," Celina whimpered, keeping a close eye on the screen. Why did she agree to play this? Holy shit, she could be an idiot sometimes. At least the story was interesting so far, even if she wasn't sure what was going on. Started with her driving to a house, examining said house, and now she was wandering around outside. She was pretty sure she put a good distance between herself and the house, actually. "I've literally made no progress outside of getting this flashlight, I'm so lost. Where the hell is the house?" she asked herself, bringing her legs up on the chair with her, as though they were a shield.

The aimless walk went on for a few minutes, until Celina eventually found the path. She sighed in relief, and followed the trail back to the house. "Just a friendly reminder to the audience here. You know I love you when I do stupid shit like this to myself, dear Christ," a forced laugh followed the statement, the house now back in view. She was about to say something else, when muffled music started playing. The radio inside the building. But she turned that off, she thought. "I thought I turned that thing off, was I imagining that? Why is it on again, I don't want to go back in there now, shit." she could've sworn she heard a chuckle in the background, barely noticeable above the country music. But she brushed it off as nothing, or she was just hearing things.

As soon as she made it back to the house, the first thing she did was locate where the radio was. It was in one of these rooms, and she could tell she was getting closer, judging by the  
volume of the music. This went on until she was outside of a closed off room. "I could've sworn I left the door open, this place is fucking haunted, no wonder that chick left," she mumbled, opening the door just a little bit, the screen flashing to static for a split second when she did. "Sainte merde!" she shrieked, slamming her hands over her face, peeking through her fingers after a few seconds. This was gonna be a long game, she could tell.

~*~*~*

The recording didn't last very long, at most 30 minutes, and she was busy editing it now. It was dumb, but whenever she was reviewing the footage she finished, she'd always shield her eyes when she knew a jump scare would happen. She was working on the audio, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. While it was small, it was sudden enough to make her jump. She pulled her headphones around her neck, turning to face a rather cheerful Gavin.

"What's up Gayin?" she asked, smiling at the nickname. "Is it time for lunch already?" she turned to look back at the clock. Yup, getting close.

"I came by to ask if you wanted to come with us lads. But it's not just you, me, Ray and Michael this time. The gents are tagging along as well." he explained, beaming the whole time.

"Of course I'll come, let me save first and I'll be right out." she agreed, and heard Gavin leave. She made a few more quick edits before saving, and quickly left the office. Her and Kara exchanged a quick hello, before she ran out the building, meeting the guys at Geoff's car.

"Look who came to join us," Geoff smiled, the others turning to look towards her. "Glad you could join us, but all of us aren't going to fit in one car, so I'll just be driving you, Gavin, and Ray." he explained.

"Fine by me," she shrugged, climbing in the car with the others. They all said their farewells to the other men before they went off to their own vehicles, and Geoff started the car. Gavin immediately started a conversation with the older man, and Celina turned to face the one next to her. "So why'd you decide to tag along with us? I'm sure Michael would've been happy to drive you." she asked, hoping it didn't come off as rude. She enjoyed Ray's company a lot, and she saw him as a really good friend. But he was a lot closer with Michael than her, so it would've made sense.

He shrugged, reaching into his one of his short's pockets. "Yolo?" the statement came out more as a question, and she raised an eyebrow when he pulled his 3DS out. "So, it sounded like you enjoyed that one game, Slender, right?" he asked, smirking.

She huffed, and playfully punched his shoulder. "We don't talk about that game!" she stated firmly, reaching into her hoodie pocket. "But hey, wanna use Swapnote again?" she asked, pulling her own 3DS out, and turned it on.

"Don't have to ask me twice, Rose," he answered, turning his on as well. "I just hope you're ready for my awesome art skills."

"Whatever you say, Narvaez."

~*~*~*

The day was quite eventful, and Celina enjoyed herself. More so today than Tuesday, surprisingly. She was just as glad to make it back home after long hours of editing, and goofing off with her co-workers, it was nice to just relax after a long day.

The first thing she did once she reached her room was make an immediate change of clothes, and get settled down at her desk. She started up her computer, and went on tumblr first, going through all the new posts on her dash. She got a good laugh out of some of them, while others were a tad bit emotional. But it was a website she could waste a good hour or two on, ad never get bored of it. The only time she switched to a new website was when she was all caught up with her dash, and she'd usually check twitter at this time.

It was a gut feeling, but she felt she would regret this later. But like any other instincts she had, she ignored them, and browsed through recent tweets directed towards her. She released a content sigh as she scrolled through the tweets, a smile forming. They were all very sweet, and they managed to make her day a lot better. Of course, there was an occasional hate message, but she ignored those just fine. One of them, however, grabbed her attention.

@Celyro is trying way too hard to be liked at the company. it's obvious no one at @Achievementhunt likes her.

She bit the inside of her cheek roughly, but not hard enough to draw blood. She didn't understand why this hit her the hardest, and she did her best to keep scrolling, and to forget about it. But the messages seemed to get more and more worse. All asking Geoff or Burnie to fire her, about how no one cared about her, about how she wasn't a real gamer because of her sex. But the most frequent one was her weight. A topic that hit home for her.

A whimper formed from the back of her throat, and she scrolled away from the desk just a little. Just to give her enough space to look at her stomach. Her eyebrows furrowed, as she poked at it lightly, and then grabbing at it with both hands. She winced, watching the skin stretch and fold. She was fat, wasn't she? This was something she was always trying to avoid. She always took an afternoon walk during the summer back in college, and her trips going to and back from work should've helped, as well. But no, they didn't do shit. She was still a fat piece of trash, and a disappointment to her co-workers, to Sadie, to her dad. Her throat felt dry, and she shut her eyes tight at the memory, wrapping her arms around her stomach. She had to fix this. But if her previous methods weren't working, then there was only one logical explanation left.

She'd have to cut down on her eating habits, even if it killed her.


	11. Chapter 11

It's been a week since Celina started her "diet." And in that week, she always felt ill. As though everyone was silently judging her. Only being nice to her just to make her feel better about her pathetic life. Everything she ate only made her feel worse, like a disease. And that her only cure was shoving her finger down her throat to empty herself. But it always made her feel somewhat better. She always felt lighter after it was done, and she genuinely believed that this was for the best. If everyone would like her afterwards, what was the harm, right?

But despite her efforts to lose weight, she still got messages on tumblr and twitter, all calling her fat. And she still hated looking at herself in the mirror, and whenever she got on the scale. The only thing it did was lie, just like everyone else. She didn't weigh 100 pounds, dammit. She wasn't even sure what she hated more at this point. The fact her methods weren't working at all, or the fact that she had actually crumbled. She thought she was strong, but she wasn't. She was nothing but a weak coward in the end, whom believed every small thing that people told her. All because it reminded her of her fucked up childhood.

It was Friday, and Celina was actually regretting going into work today. Normally she loved the job a whole lot, it's been her dream ever since she started her Lets Play channel. But recent events had made her a lot more self-conscious, and a lot more cautious to her co-workers. She still loved them with all her heart, the same going for Sadie. But she didn't need their pity, the honesty would've save a lot of trouble. She didn't want to find out this way.

Celina groaned, forcing herself to get out of bed went her phone alarm went off. She could've called in sick, but again, that would raise more suspicion. And that was the one thing she was trying to avoid, until her little problem was dealt with. She had a harder time covering this up from her roommate, and Sadie had already grown suspicious of her more than once.

She went through her morning routine, grabbed her bag for work, and headed downstairs. The familiar scent of waffles wafted towards her, and her stomach growled, begging for something. Sadie made a habit of waking up before her, and making Celina breakfast. While she appreciated the gesture, she was trying to learn self control. She did, however, take one of the waffles from the stack, took a bite out of it, and dumped it in the trash with the others. After that, she crumpled up some old trash and paper towels, and littered that over the discarded food, so Sadie wouldn't find it. She grabbed her set of keys, and quickly left the apartment, and began her long walk to work. Maybe if she was lucky, she could get out early today.

~*~*~*

As always, Kara was quick to greet her when she walked in. Celina loved talking with the Texan girl, but she always had to cut the conversations short. She had to do this with everything. Lunch, small drink breaks. She was even in a rush to get editing done, and didn't appear in many Lets Play's because of this. When she did, she was mostly silent. She just had one goal throughout the day, and that was to get home, and lay in her bed for the rest of the day.Her friends seemed worried about these recent habits, and how she didn't seem to be eating as much, but she knew how they felt. She knew how all of them felt. 

"Morning Kara," she forced a smile, standing a few feet from her desk. That was one of the things that changed between them. Kara would always like to play with her bangs, hoodie drawstrings, anything that she could reach. Not any more, though. "How's your morning?" she asked, starting up a small conversation.

"Just the usual work," she answered, gesturing towards her computer. Celina was always curious about the work she did over there. As far as she knew, Kara was the receptionist and a voice actress. "You're the last one to show up again, if you were curious."

Celina nodded her thanks, and headed to the shared office. Not another word was shared between the two. Kara seemed to take notice of that after a few days of the diet, because she was always checking if she was okay at any given chance. And every time, Celina would lie. Because she honestly felt like shit at the beginning of the days, but she never wanted to show weakness. 

She walked inside the small room, still silent. She received some small greetings, but that was it. She didn't bother to answer, she just got set up at her small work space, and got right to editing. Simple as that. Earlier she finished, earlier she could leave. 

Geoff had asked her if she wanted to be in the Lets Play they were about to film, and she declined, using editing as her excuse again. He didn't look like he believed her, but didn't push on further than that, which she was grateful for.

~*~*~*

Lunch eventually rolled around, and as always, she was invited to hang out with the Lads. Even Barbara and Lindsay offered to take her with them. And just as she always did this past week, she politely declined and made up some last minute excuse. They understood, but they were getting a lot more suspicious of her, and that was the one thing she wanted to avoid. And now she knew that she couldn't.

Celina was certain she was the only one in the office, and everyone else was out getting lunch. Or at least, she was certain no one would try to talk to her. And she wanted it to stay like that, but the odds weren't exactly in her favor today.

"Celina, can we talk?" she grinded her teeth together in irritation, turning to face whoever was talking to her. One things for sure, she wasn't expecting Michael. "Hey, you haven't really been talkative these past couple of weeks, everyone's worried about you. Could you do us a small favor, and go to lunch with us, please?" he spoke with unease.

"Not hungry." she replied simply, spinning back to face her monitor. As if on queue, her stomach released a not so quiet growl. She bit her lip, hoping he hadn't noticed.

"Really? Something tells me otherwise," Michael scoffed, sarcasm lacing his voice. "Come on, it doesn't have to be a big meal, you don't have to stay the whole time if you don't want to. The others just really want you to talk to them again." 

She raised an eyebrow at that, before letting out a defeated sigh. She couldn't just keep hiding from them forever. This was something she'd have to face sooner or later. "Fine," she muttered, saving her work, and getting up from her chair. "Don't expect me to stay the whole time, though."

Michael seemed more than happy with this answer, and led her out of the office, and towards the kitchen. She opened her mouth to say something, pointing at the front door, but Michael dismissed it. "We're not eating outside," he explained. She gave the door a final glance, but continued to follow him. When they reached the room, though, she had a small surprise waiting for her. "Gavin wanted to make one of his dumb bets with you, totally your choice, though." he told her, clearing up any confusion.

Gavin was on one end of the island, holding a gallon of milk in one hand, and some money in the other. Ray was on the other end, talking to Lindsay whom was holding a small camera. The brit perked up when the two entered, signature grin lighting up his features. "She made it!" he announced, the other two turning to face her.

"The hell is going on in here?" she asked, walking over to the island. She stood on the opposite side of Lindsay, Michael walking over to join her, with Gavin on her left, and Ray on her right. This is when Gavin slid the gallon of milk over to her, his grin widening.

"I'm making a bet with you," he stated, with a small sense of pride. She made a quick glance over at Michael, whom shrugged, before looking back at Gavin, urging him to continue. "You have to drink this entire gallon of milk in under an hour, and if you do, I'll give you 20 dollars. If you don't, you give me 50, deal?" 

Celina narrowed her eyes at this, looking down at the milk gallon. She leaned against the island, picking at the lid of the carton. It was probably a risky move, due to her lack of eating, but hey, free money. "Deal," she finally agreed. "Start recording."

Gavin was thrilled by this, and nodded to Ray, who tapped away at his phone. Keeping track of time, she guessed. "Ready?" Gavin asked, and she nodded.

"You are so screwed," Celina smirked, opening up the gallon, before chugging. And god, this felt weird. Only a quarter in, and she already felt her stomach starting to fill up. After a few swigs, she set the carton back down on the island to catch her breath. "You know, what makes this way harder for me, is that the human body is only supposed to hold a half gallon of milk, not a whole gallon?" she chuckled to herself, holding a fist over her mouth.

"Giving up, love?" Gavin asked, a smug tone to his voice.

"Oh hell no, I'm not giving you the satisfaction. I don't care if I end up throwing all of this up later." she replied, bringing the carton back up to her mouth. It took some time, and a lot of effort to tune out the side conversation, but she made it down to half.

"20 minutes in," Ray announced, still watching his phone, occasionally glancing over towards Celina. Her stomach was starting to ache, but she still kept drinking, taking a few breaks every so often. "37 minutes." Celina just had one more quarter left to drink, and she was already starting to feel sick.

"Gimme a minute," she murmured, holding up a finger. She sucked in another deep breath, before chugging down the rest of the milk, and slammed the empty carton on the island. "Sucer ça, vous me devez 20 dollars," she cheered, pointing an accusing finger at Gavin. "If you need a translation there, hun, you owe me 20 dollars." she beamed.

"Bollocks." Gavin whimpered, staring down at the money.

"Awesome job, Rose!" Ray congratulated, putting his phone away, and clapped a hand onto her shoulder.

"Celina doesn't take shit from anybody." Lindsay chuckled, still recording. And for once, she actually felt happy. Happy to socialize with her friends. Because maybe they did care about her. But, of course, the milk had caught up to her, bubbling up from her stomach.

She cursed to herself, and took off running towards the bathroom. Nearly trampling the door down, and bent down in front of the toilet, her breath coming out in short gasps, but nothing else came out. She stared down at her hands, whimpering as she brought her index finger up closer. She could make out distant footsteps approaching the bathroom, but she ignored it. She just had to get this over with.

Taking in another breath, she stuck her finger down her throat, and there it was. All the milk she had consumed, as well as small chunks from her bite of breakfast. But not just that, all previous self hate had begun to boil inside of her. Just like it had when she woke up. Her hostility towards the world was back.

"Hey, you alright?" the question sounded more like a laugh. A mocking one, directed towards her. She grunted in response. "Well, if you're up for it, we can head off to lunch now. We still have some time."

She grit her teeth, and twisted around to look at Ray. "I think I'll pass."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this chapter earlier than normal for you guys. I can't believe how popular this story is growing, this is so amazing. I never thought my story would be this big in a fandom, thanks so much!  
> In other news, I should probably quit joining other fandoms myself. There are so many stories i want to write for them now, but I should hold those off until I finish this one. I would hate it if i left off at a cliffhanger, and then just give up. So I hope you all like this chapter, and to any new readers, enjoy the story~

The stress had gotten a little out of hand for Celina. Weeks had passed since her bet with Gavin. Her distant attitude was more clear to the others, and everyone was growing concerned, Burnie being the most troubled. They would find time in their schedule to ask if she was okay and if she wanted to hang out. Like always, she would decline. They were fun to hang out with, and she missed moments like those with her friends, but she had to face the facts that they didn't like her company. It wasn't a fact that she loved, but it was just cruel reality. And that was something she knew she'd face.

It was sometime after 12:00, Sadie was downstairs, and she was settled in in front of her desk. She took the risk of going through her Tumblr inbox, as well as her Twitter feed. And thankfully, she hadn't run into any hate; maybe her diet actually was working out for her. She just knew she made the right decision by doing this. It was worth a little pain to have her friends and sister back.

Celina continued reading through the messages, and even saw a few video recommendations for her channel. It had been a long time since her last upload hasn't it? She usually uploaded something new every day, if not, every other day. But her job with Achievement Hunter really messed that schedule up. But that doesn't mean she should quit uploading videos altogether? Her fans were the real reason she even got a job in the first place. They even had an interesting idea for what she could upload. It was a little creepy, but still interesting. A video tour of hers and Sadie's apartment. It couldn't hurt to at least film it. And thus, it was settled.

She made a mad dash downstairs, which surprised Sadie. Celina started searching through the mass of stuff on the dining table, in hopes of finding the camera. Her friend raised an eyebrow at this, lowering the volume on the TV. "Haven't seen you at all today, you looking for something?" she asked, getting up from the couch, and strolling over to the table.

Celina simply nodded, still searching under junk. Sadie cleared her throat, asking for a better answer. "Looking for the camera, wanted to record something for my Youtube channel." Celina finally said.

"Hm, I remember seeing it recently, wait here," Sadie instructed, before heading upstairs. Celina's search was growing fruitless, and she starting going through some junk on the kitchen bar. There wasn't much, but she still made an effort to go through it all. Sadie came running back downstairs, camera in hand. "It was in my room, was using it to take some pictures last week." she beamed, handing the camera to Celina.

Celina took it, turned it on to see if worked fine, and checked if it had enough battery life. "Alright, well, some of my viewers wanted a video tour of the apartment. Don't mind, do you?" she asked, glancing up at Sadie.

"Go right ahead, should I keep the TV volume low?" Sadie asked, going in the kitchen to get a drink, before heading back over to the couch.

"You can turn it back up, you probably won't be able to hear it over my shitty commentary, anyway." Celina mumbled, fiddling with the camera settings.

"Oh, and Cece, one request?" she was hesitant, her speech faltering.

"Yo."

"Could you not go in my room during the tour, I'd feel a little awkward knowing your viewers saw that. Along with some of your co-workers."

Celina paused at that, rethinking the sentence over. "Yeah, yeah of course," she finally agreed. She walked over to the front door, her back to it so she was facing the stairs. "About to start now, any other requests?"

"Nope, that's it, go ahead."

Celina nodded, took a deep breath, and started recording. "Hey guys, Celina's back after 2 weeks, you people really went insane, Jesus," she spoke, a little awkward with Sadie being in the same room. "Yeah, a lot of stuff happened, but the reason behind my absence was my new job. I know, shit reason, but it's actually for a really awesome company, Rooster Teeth. They have a Youtube channel as well, so if you haven't checked it out, you should do it, just so you can see more of this loser behind the camera, eh?"

Her commentary lasted for a long while, even earning some small laughs from Sadie, whom shielded herself away from the camera playfully. Celina was about to head upstairs, checking the time on her watch on the way, before turning to look at her roommate. "How long has this been going on now?" she asked.

"10 minutes so far." Sadie answered, still invested in whatever was on TV.

"Hot damn," Celina whispered to herself, jogging up the flight of stairs. "Well, I was told not to go into Sadie's room for personal reasons, and you guys must be super fucking interested in out messy bathroom, right?" she asked sarcastically, heading in the room. She flicked the light on, and scanned around the empty room. "So yeah, this is totally Sadie's mess." she spent a few minutes to long in the bathroom, her eyes finally landing on the scale in the corner. She bit her lip, tentatively pressing the power button with her toe. Why not, couldn't hurt. A few side comments, and her weight finally appeared on the screen.

97 pounds.

"Fucking lies." she muttered bitterly, previous insecurity sneaking back up to her. And with that, she was out of the bathroom. She was silent until she reached her room, debating whether or not she wanted to walk inside. It wasn't terribly messy. Just an unmade bed and a few clothes on the floor. She let out a small sigh, before stepping inside.

Not much was said, just a quick scan of what was inside. Her desk, her games, everything she could think of. And that was the last of it. Celina ended the recording, groaning as she ran a hand through her bangs. She got the SD card out, tossed the camera on the bed, and put it in her computer. Might as well start editing now, listen to music as well. Sure, it was time consuming, and boring. But she saw it as a way to release any stress. It was weird, but it helped in a way. And in times like this, it was the only method she had to rely on.


	13. Chapter 13

Sunday eventually rolled around the corner, and Celina's little problem didn't lighten up. She hadn't even realized she forgot to eat anything yesterday. Either that, or she didn't care to eat. Sadie picked up on it, and was growing more suspicious of her. But it didn't matter, she was used to the pain now. It wasn't anything new to her at this point. The deep agony in her stomach didn't bother her, nor did the concern from her friends. She was used to the occasional hate message every once in a while. Nothing changed during the past week. Nothing new.

Today was just like Saturday. Celina stayed in her room, while Sadie stayed downstairs, watching TV. She was currently busy editing an old Lets Play she never got around to. The video tour of the apartment was finished, but she was saving that for another time. What Sadie said, about her co-workers watching videos, was true. Gavin even said so on her first day. She was just worried about them watching that one in particular, even though those chances may be slim. More specifically, she didn't want them to see her weight, and know just how bad her problem was. Or wanting them to know how badly overweight she was. That wouldn't be an easy thing to explain to the others.

She mumbled incoherently to herself, clicking away at her mouse, music blasting through her headphones. It wasn't necessarily loud, but it was loud enough to block out the soft thudding on the stairs, as well as the soft creak of her door opening. The gentle tap on her shoulder made her jump, though. She quickly paused her music and spun around, noticing Sadie was carrying a small package.

"It's for you," she smiled, handing it over to Celina. She narrowed her eyes at it, shaking it around, in hopes of guessing what was inside. She checked for any return address, and couldn't find one. Whoever it was, they wanted to stay hidden, and somehow knew her address. "Any idea who it's from?" she asked, eyeing the package as well.

"Not a clue." Celina mumbled, examining the box.

"Anyone you know who has our address?" Sadie asked, shrugging.

"Um," Celina thought to herself, setting the package in her lap. There was close family that knew her address, but they wouldn't scratch off theirs when sending her something. There was always work, but out of all the workers there, who would know? The only people she was really close with was Kara, Barbara, Lindsay, Gavin, Ray...oh.

Oh.

OH.

She felt her face heat up, burying most of it down her hoodie. "Nah, don't think so. Just close family, but they would leave the return address," she eventually answered, setting the box on her desk. "I'll get to it later, busy editing this one video right now.

Sadie fidgeted after that, sticking her hands in her hoodie pocket. "I guess I'll let you get back to that, then," she said, but still lingered. Celina was about to say something, when the other girl swooped down to hug her, catching Celina off guard. "We haven't hung out in a while, you know I love you, right?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

Celina blinked, before awkwardly wrapping her arms around Sadie, patting her back. "Yeah, yeah I know," she sighed, rubbing small circles on her friend's back. "Love you too, you know that." she mumbled into her shoulder.

"Well, have fun with editing." Sadie said, pulling away, and waving to Celina as she left. She watched the other leave, before twisting around to look at the package. Well, this was gonna bug her. There was only a few people she know who could've sent it. A family member, Ray, or a fan. She recalled posting her P.O. box on Tumblr, if any of her fans wanted to send her something. It was frequent at first, and she kept all the stuff they gave her in her room, but it slowly died down. She got some occasionally stuff, but nothing too common. That was it, just a fan gift. She could just open it up later tonight. And just like that, she was back to editing.

She lost track of the time, not even noticing when it got darker out. Sadie had asked her if she wanted to go out for dinner, and she declined, as always. She just didn't really feeling like moving. At all. Ever. It was a strange feeling for her, but she just didn't want to get up from her spot. Curl up beneath her blankets on the bed, sure, but not get up to actually go somewhere. The thought of that made her laugh a little. This must be what normal people consider to be a typical Tumblr user.

The video she was previously working on was finished now, and she was debating if she should upload the video tour tonight, or tomorrow. The amount of time it takes to upload a video of this length is pretty big, but not too bad. She looked down at her watch, checking the time.

10:47

Not too late. It wouldn't kill her if it was up at around 11 or 12. Celina opened Youtube, signed it, and hit upload. She choose the file, put in the necessary information, and waited for it to load. Not just the process of waiting. She mumbled to herself, and leaned back in her chair, picking at the dirt under her nails. She hated this part with a passion. There usually wasn't any other video to edit, and her Tumblr dash was deserted of new posts for once. 

Celina wasn't listening to any music now, so the muffled sound of her front door opening was clear to her. And so was Sadie calling her name, asking for her to come downstairs. She mumbled to herself, reluctantly walking out of the room, half of her face buried behind the collar of her hoodie. 

"What is it?" her voice was barely audible over the hoodie, but Sadie seemed to hear it, as she pat a spot on the couch next to her. A bowl was in her hand, but she couldn't see the contents from where she stood.

"Come here and watch this movie with me, it's one of your favorites," Sadie beamed. "I also got some pie from Wal-Mart, left you a bowl on the counter." she added, pointing over at the kitchen counter, and just like she said, there sat a small, plastic bowl. It was hard to tell what kind of pie it was, but the sight made Celina's stomach growl.

"Not hungry." Celina finally said, stubbornly shoving her hands in her hoodie pocket.

"Cece, you haven't had anything all day, I don't want you doing something like this to yourself," Sadie sighed, her voice holding sympathy. "You don't even have to eat the whole thing. You can just have half of it and save the rest for later if you want."

Celina narrowed her eyes at the bowl, huffing out a small sigh before she took it, and joined Sadie on the couch. She curled up on the other end of it, holding the bowl of pie close. "What movie?" she asked.

"Tangled," Sadie answered simply, starting the Disney movie. And truth be told, this was one of Celina's favorites. She always adored Disney movies, they held a special place in her heart. "I know our usual movie night was yesterday, but why not, you know?" Sadie shrugged, setting the remote down between them.

"Nice." she forced a smile, leaving the pie unintended for most of the movie. Of course, Sadie convinced her to eat some of it, and she did, but not all of it. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.

~*~*~*

The movie was over, Celina left the rest of her pie in the fridge, and the two said goodnight to each other before walking in their rooms. She plopped down at her desk chair, her stomach churning even more. The feeling was very uncomfortable for her, and she didn't know if it was the pie's fault, or not. A small, pained whimper sounded at the back of her throat as it got worse, and she immediately reached over for her trash can, placing it in her lap and hanging her head over the side. As the churning got worse, she hesitantly brought her finger up. She could end it now. All the pain would be gone. No more churning. So why was she hesitating?

Her other hand gripped the edge of the trash can tighter, finally making a decision. Her index finger went down her mouth, and to the back of her throat, immediately retracting it. The churning went up to her chest, than to her throat until...it was all in the trash can. She cringed at the bitter taste and smell, setting the trash can aside. God, this was horrible, she thought. She ran a hand down her face, glancing over at her computer. The video was up. Already had some views, but not many. 

She shook her head, and got up to get in bed, before remembering th package. Right, fan mail. She was gonna do that tonight. Hell, maybe she could even take it into the office as something to put on her desk. She scooped up the small bow, sat at her bed, and began tearing the tape up. She unfolded the box, and noticed an envelope on top of a few layers of bubble wrap. With some small suspicion, she picked the envelop up, and set the box aside on the bed. Upon opening, she noticed that whoever sent this, had apparently typed up the letter. And whoever did type it up, had made it very clear to be a death threat. She narrowed her eyes, eyes scanning over the text, reaching the very bottom. And of course, it's signed anonymously. Of fucking course.

She lazily tossed the sheet of paper towards her desk, and reached in the box. There was a lot of bubble wrap, and they wouldn't send a package with just a letter. After removing the couple layers, she spotted one small thing that made the death threat so much worse. She swallowed hard, reaching down to pick up the doll, and holding it in her lap. It was an exact replica of her, from what she could tell. A couple pink pins were stabbed through the chest and stomach. Celina didn't know much about voodoo, nor did she believe it, but she did know about the meaning behind the colors. And pink meant death.

She gripped the doll tighter, tossing the box away onto the floor, and walking over to her desk. She grabbed a pen, turned the letter over, and quickly wrote, rather messily.

"Everyone wanted me dead, so I obliged."

The writing was large and sloppy, but she didn't care. She set the doll on top of the letter, got changed into a tank top and pair of shorts, and slipped under her bed covers. She sighed to herself, turned her lamp off, and drifted to sleep.

~*~*~*

Monday morning was rough for Sadie. She went into work later than normal, which she was thankful for, but it was hard to sleep in when Celina's phone alarm kept going off. She wasn't paying attention to the time, so she guessed it was around 8:00, if her friend's alarm was going off. It was the fifth time it went off, that she actually decided to get up. No use trying to go back to sleep.

Sadie pushed herself up from her bed, putting her glasses on, and going to the bathroom. She brushed her hair, teeth, and quickly changed into her Wal-Mart uniform. She didn't have to leave for another hour, or two, but it's best to be prepared. She went downstairs, not too surprised to see Celina's shoes and keys still in place. She was when she saw the time was 10:56.  
That wasn't a good sign.

She quickly ran back upstairs and straight into Celina's room. And there she was, still curled up in bed, her back towards Sadie. She walked over to the bed slowly, ignoring the letter and doll, picking up her phone. 5 missed calls. Two from Burnie and Geoff, and one from Kara. She set the phone aside, and started shaking Celina, trying to get her up.

"Hey, Cece, you need to get up now, you're late for work, come on," she said softly. No reaction. She shook a little harder, and still nothing. "Celina, please, you're scaring me." she whimpered, and still got nothing. Sadie wasn't sure what part of her mind told her this, but she reached toward her neck, checking for a pulse. Her index and middle finger pressed down onto Celina's neck, in desperate search for something. But all of this proved to be fruitless. Celina wasn't even breathing.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late chapter, had to drive up to Atlantic City with my family, and didn't have any access to wifi. Unfortunately, there won't be a chapter up next week, since that's my birthday and I'll be pretty busy.  
> Also I wanted to make something clear in this chapter when Sadie is texting Geoff. I used Celina's name since that was her phone, sorry for any spoilers there. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

The Achievement Hunter office was silent, with the except of keyboard tapping, and mouse clicks. A few employees were curious over Celina's absence, having not heard anything from her. Kara hadn't heard anything from her, Burnie hadn't heard anything from Kara, and Geoff didn't hear anything from Burnie. 

Geoff cursed to himself, slipping his phone away after his second attempt to call her. He hadn't seen her in a while, but he could already feel his fatherly instinct take over. She wasn't answering any calls, nor calling in sick, and it was worrying quite a few people. She hadn't made any announcement as to why she wouldn't come in. Absolutely nothing from her end.

"Still no luck," he muttered, loud enough for everyone else to hear him. "I think we might as well start recording, doubt she'll be showing up any time soon." he instructed, the other guys nodding in agreement. Gavin was out of the room in an instant to go get Ryan, while everyone else was setting up. Geoff and Jack were getting ready to start recording, Michael was adjusting his microphone. Ray was a little more focused on his phone, always checking it for any possible texts or tweets from Celina. It wasn't like her to skip work.

Shortly after Gavin left, Geoff's phone started to ring. He quickly slid his headphone down around his neck, scrambling for his phone. "It's Celina!" he announced, answering it immediately. Now all attention was on him.

"Don't keep this a secret, put it on speaker!" Michael told him, voice urgent. Geoff nodded, setting his phone down on his desk, putting it on speaker.

"Celina?"

"No, uh, her roommate. Is this her boss?"

"This is Geoff, is she okay?"

"Well, whenever you're not busy, could you come to the hospital? Something happened to her, and I really think she could use some support."

"Holy shit, we'll be there as soon as we ."

"Thank you so much. She's staying at the Seton Medical Center, take your time, though."

The call went dead after that. The room was silent, all four occupants registering what they just heard. "Oh my God..." Geoff muttered to himself, arms hoisted on his desk, running both hands through his hair. 

It was at that moment Gavin burst through the door again, Ryan in tow, with a large grin. "We ready to record?" he asked cheerfully, smile faltering when he noticed the shocked expressions. "Did something happen?"

"We aren't recording today, we're going to the hospital, I'll tell Burnie later." Geoff stated, forcing himself up. He put his phone and keys in his pocket and left the room, all 3 guys following, with Ray bringing up the rear. 

Gavin watched in slight confusion, catching up to Ray, while Ryan caught up to Jack. "Who's at the hospital?" he asked.

"Celina." Ray forced out, still looking down at his phone. Gavin gawked at that, sputtering out unintelligible replies and question, all of which Ray ignored. He was busy hoping all of this wasn't actually happening. That it was just a sick dream.

~*~*~*

Sadie kept rocking back and forth in the white chair, hands pressing down onto her lap, clenching the letter, doll, and Celina's phone tightly. She kept her eyes focused on the hospital bed in front of her, but more so the body that was resting on it. It wasn't long after she found her friend lifeless, and she was almost grateful to have found her when she did. Celina was breathing, thankfully. The beeps from the IV monitor were slow, but they were still there. The signs were pretty damn clear, and Sadie was pissed with herself for not noticing. And she was pissed at everyone online that sent her hate, to the point where it actually pushed her over the edge.

She always kept track of the time after she made the call, waiting for the guys to show up. Sadie might not have known them personally, but she knew Celina was really close to them. And if she did this out of self hate, then maybe this is the kind of comfort she needed. From close friends, ones that she considered to be family.

A faint vibrating caught her attention, and she quickly shuffled out of the room, standing by the door. Closing the door behind her, she kept a close eye on her friend through the window. Her stomach churned at the sight, the phone vibrating again successfully catching her attention.

Geoff: We're at the hospital now.

Geoff: Is she holding up?

Celina: She's doing fine, thanks again for coming here.

Her gaze lingered on the phone for several minutes after that sent. She couldn't bring herself to look at Celina. Not in that state. It just made her feel sick, knowing she could help her friend before all of this happened. It tore her up inside, more so than it actually happening.

Sadie hadn't noticed the distant thud of footsteps until they were right behind her. She spun around quickly, facing 6 men whom were clearly worried. But their attention wasn't on her, it was on the girl hooked up to the IV monitor. The girl they had grown close to in only a few weeks. A member of their family, whom was so broken and vulnerable now.

"A doctor checked on her a while ago," Sadie spoke up softly, following their line of sight. She brought the letter and doll up, holding it out for Geoff. "She tried to starve herself..."

Geoff reluctantly took both items, handed the doll back to Jack, and unfolded the letter. He read over the wall of text, holding a closed fist over his mouth halfway through it, with Michael and Jack reading it over his shoulders. The other three, including Sadie were more focused on the girl in the room.

"Holy shit." Michael breathed once Geoff turned the letter over, noticing the scrawled handwriting,

"Is this what she's been dealing with?" Jack asked, now gazing down at the doll in hand, moving one of the pins around with his thumb.

"Apparently," Sadie sighed, leaning her shoulder against the window. "I mean, i noticed she hadn't been eating as much, but I didn't think her problem was this bad." she said under her breath.

"How long?" Geoff asked, voice low, catching everyone's attention.

Sadie shifted her weight awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I wanna say last week?" the answer came out as a question. "I mean, I'm not sure when the hate had started, so I can't be too sure when she started this habit." she shrugged, some doubt on the answer, but it was the truth.

"Son of a bitch..." he muttered, leaning back against the window, running his free hand down his face in frustration.

It went silent after that, leaving everyone with their own thoughts. They all got to read the letter, and the reaction was different every time. Sadie would check the time on Celina's phone every few minutes, remember when the doctor said she was supposed to be waking up. And it was getting closer to that time.

"She'll be waking up soon, if you guys are hungry, you can get something to eat real quick," Sadie spoke up. "I'm not sure how she'll react when she wakes up, but I don't want her to feel overwhelmed by all this company." she explained, when she noticed Geoff was about to object.

"She's right, there might be some sort of aftershock," Ryan added. "She should still be awake when we get back, we won't be gone too long."

Geoff took a final glance at Celina, before nodding. "Text me if anything happens." he told Sadie and led the group away, Ray and Gavin lingering behind for some time, reluctantly following the rest. Seeing each individual reaction killed her even more inside. She's seen quite a lot of the videos Celina appeared in, and they all seemed very close to her already. She couldn't imagine how much this was affecting them.

She shook the thought from her head and went back inside the room, taking a seat by the bed. Time continued to slowly pass by, the small beeps being the only noise in the room. Sadie twirled the phone around in her hands, keeping a close eye on the girl. 

Celina would be waking up soon. She knew she would. Or, at least she hoped she would. The doctor wasn't very clear on her making it out alive.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooo sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but the previous week was exam week for me and it was very stressful and pushed me into writer's block. This is a much shorter chapter, and I apologize. If I can finish chapter 16 soon, you can expect that either tonight or tomorrow. Hope you enjoy this chapter guys, love you all!

It was dark. Pitch black. Nothing but a never ending void. And Celina was left with a sense of déjà vu from it all. She didn't know when she woke up, or why she felt so nauseous. Where ever it was, it was cold and had an obnoxious beeping, which was getting faster. She shifted in the bed, prying her eyes open. And this was definitely not her bedroom. Panic surged through her, as she desperately pushed herself back against the bed's headboard, hurriedly scanning the room. Hospital room, that's for sure, and a spacious one at that.

"Celina?" the voice caught her by surprise, and she risked a glance to the source. Sadie was seated by the door, phone held in her lap. Her expression was a mixture of shock, worry, and anguish. And Celina could've sworn there was relief in there, as well.

"W-why...why am I..." her throat hurt when she tried to talk, her voice gruff. "I...I don't..." she forced out, looking around the room in panic once again.

"I tried to wake you up this morning, because it was after 10 and I heard your alarm going off," Sadie spoke up, hesitantly pushing herself up from the chair. "You weren't moving and I got worried, so when I checked for a pulse, there wasn't anything," she sighed, slowly walking over to the bed. "Can I just ask you why, why you would do this to yourself?"

Celina shifted in the bed, a little uncomfortable by the question. Her fingers hooked against the white blanket, toying with the fabric as a way to distract herself. "So if you were in my room," she started, uncertain of her word choice. "Does that mean you saw...you know?" she asked, the thought of the death threat left her uneasy.

"Yes, I...I saw the letter..." Sadie sighed, slowly bringing an arm up to the bed, reaching for Celina's arm. "Why would you listen to them though, they were just asshole trolls, who cares what they think of you?" she asked, voice rising somewhat.

Celina winced at the sudden change of tone, shrinking down in the bed some. "I understand what you're saying...it's just..." her voice trailed off, trying to figure out how to word her next sentence. Her thoughts were racing, giving her mixed emotions, as well as a headache. She wasn't even sure how she was supposed to feel now. Not sure if she should feel guilt or anguish. 14 years of writing didn't prepare her for this. "When I read comments that were all similar to the threat, it just got me thinking. It got me thinking about what a lot of people would say to me when I was younger."

Sadie now had a gentle grip on her friend's wrist, still staring down at the bed. "I'm gonna ask you a question, and I want you to be completely honest with me here," she said, and Celina nodded, humming a small "m-hm." in response. "How would you feel if the roles were reversed here, if I was the one starving myself and not you?" she asked, her tone way too serious.

Celina froze, eyes flickering up to Sadie, scanning her for any sign of emotion. She sighed, running her free hand through her hair, which was now loose from her signature ponytail. "I guess devastated." she stated simply, looking back down at the sheets.

"Well, that's how I felt, knowing you've been putting yourself through that for weeks now and I had no clue," Sadie told her, still not looking her in the eye. "And I wasn't the only one. Your co-workers at Achievement Hunter felt the same, you know. They were all here before you woke up, and they were so worried about you."

Well, fuck. A wave of guilt washed over here. "So...where are they now?" she asked slowly, eager to change the subject. "You said they were here before, but they're not here anymore?"  
And they weren't. At least, not that she could see. Not in the room, or in the hallway.

"Getting lunch, they should be back soon," Sadie answered, looking back at Celina's phone in her hand, before placing it next to her on the bed. "If you want to tell Geoff you're awake now, I think he'd appreciate it, I think he was concerned the most out of all the guys," she explained. Celina stared down at the phone next to her, before picking it up slowly. "I have to go to work, but I hope you feel better later." 

Celina opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly hugged by the other girl before she rushed out. She blinked at the odd display, looking down at her phone. It probably was best to tell them she was awake, if they really were worried. Sadie wouldn't lie like that. She swallowed hard, turned her phone on and went to her conversation with Geoff.

Celina: Geoff?

Geoff: Sadie?

Celina: Uh, no...she's at work.

Celina: It's me this time, I'm awake.

There wasn't a response after that, and she felt herself grow more uneasy with every passing moment. Sadie wasn't that talkative with her, which was bizarre from her. What if the guys were like that, too? What if they hated her after this? She whimpered at the thought, adjusting herself on the hospital bed. That was a thought she couldn't live with. These were her role-models, she couldn't live with herself if they were mad at her.

Hopefully that wouldn't be the case.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting earlier than usual because I want to make up for the 3 week long wait and yeah this chapter is horrible everyone is ooc it's 4 in the morning here why the frick am I awake I'm a bad person gomen

The silence was killing her. The lack of responses was killing her. She didn't know what to think any more. Were the guys on their way? Were they pissed? Were they not? What the hell was Celina supposed to assume. All she knew was that Geoff was really worried, according to Sadie. It was kind of understandable, though. She did pretty much shut everyone out. Even her best friend at the company. Oh god, how was Ray taking it? He obviously cared about her, and so did Gavin. And Jack. Shit, everyone did, and she was blinded through the whole thing.

Celina cursed herself out silently, burying her head beneath her hands. I really fucked up bad this time. She really wasn't looking forward to the talk she would be having. But, it would have to happen sooner or later, right? Avoiding it longer would just make it worse. On her end, anyway. She just hoped it wouldn't be too awkward of a conversation. Or a strict one. God, she hated those when growing up.

Time was passing by slowly. Too slowly for her standards. It was making the situation 10 times more suspenseful than it needed to be. She just wanted the guys to hurry up now, because the wait was leaving her agitated. Every time a doctor or nurse would pass by the window, she would perk up instantly to see if it was them. When one came by her room to check on her, she was left disappointed, because once again, she thought it was them. This shouldn't be so stressful on her, but it was. She thought passing the time on her phone would help, but it didn't. Nothing helped her current anxiety. This probably wasn't good on her health, especially in this state. But she felt as though she just sort of betrayed the guys in a way. Why am I getting so worked up. They wouldn't be pissed. The worse it could be is disappointment, but they wouldn't be angry. I'm just overthinking this. Just breathe, Celina, breathe.

Her thoughts were interrupted by rushed footsteps. Several footsteps. Even with the background noise from outside and her heart monitor, she could hear it plain as day. The once slow beeping had begun to grow faster, and it went unnoticed by the girl as she tried to think of some sort of explanation for all of this. If she even needed one. Celina saw the guys, her friends, come into view behind the window, and she jerked her gaze back down to her phone. 

Geoff's voice was low, but she could barely hear it. No audible enough to make out what he was saying, but still there. He said a few more things, and the next thing Celina heard was the door slowly open and close, and a chair being dragged over to her bed. She swallowed hard, and looked up to the man sitting next to her. He was slouched over, arms propped up on his legs and running both hands through his hair. He wasn't looking at her, either. Just looking at him pushed more guilt in Celina's direction. He seemed so distressed, and it was killing her already.

"I'm sorry." she forced herself to say, voice soft and trembling. This made him look up at her, blue eyes holding confusion, sorrow, and...anger? The last one caught her off guard, and she began to worry again. Was he really irritated with her?

"What for?" he asked, lowering his hands down to his lap. "I think I should be apologizing. You were going through all of this and I didn't even know," he sighed, looking down at the floor again. "We noticed you were getting some hate on Twitter, but we never knew how bad it actually was, or how you would take it. We always just ignore it, so we never asked you and...god damn."

She bit at her lip to hold back a whimper. Celina was naturally an emotional person and this wasn't helping at all. He was sorry? For what she did? Did they feel like that? Oh god, what did she do. She hurt more than just herself, that's for sure. She couldn't bear to imagine what the others were thinking right now. Speaking of which, where were the others. "Um, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but where are the other guys?"

"Hallway. We each wanted to talk to you separately. You just woke up so we don't want to overwhelm you," oh, that's actually really sweet. Even if she did dread each talk. You know, just a little. She still loved them all to death. "You know, Ray told us," wait what. What did he say now?  
Before you came to office the day after we recorded the King Jack let's play, he told us that we're a family to you. We all thought that was pretty amusing at the time since our fans like to joke about it a lot, but I can see where you're coming from."

Now this was really difficult for her to not get emotional over. Normally, she would've been pissed at her friend for saying that kind of stuff out loud like it was just gossip. But she knew Ray didn't mean any harm by it. "I'm still sorry, I just shut all of you out, I didn't want anyone to worry about me because I didn't think I deserved it." Celina said, voice cracking. Fuck, was she about to cry now?

Geoff chuckled lightly at this. Not because her distress was funny. But what she said was a little ridiculous to him. "When we're not recording videos, it's our job to worry about each other. You're the youngest now, I believe, so you're the main focus of concern, right next to Gavin," Celina couldn't help but laugh at that, and Geoff got up slowly. "I think the others don't want to wait any longer on me. But one last thing before I leave, just know that we think of you like family too." he smiled warmly, and Celina returned it happily. She was happy for once. After all those weeks of despair and pain, she was joyful, pleased, any other synonym you could think of. Geoff gave her a small pat on her arm, and headed out of the room, and Jack entered next. A look of relief washed over him.

"I'm so glad to see you're awake." were his first words, as he took a seat in the chair Geoff was previously in. Celina was touched by this. It amazed her to no end to realize just how much these guys cared. Even if she was working with them for a month and a half or so.

"And I'm glad to see you guys visiting me." she beamed.

"You know, a lot of us were worried about you, before this had to happen. Even outside of Achievement Hunter." he told her, and her smile faltered at that.

"Yeah, yeah I know. What I don't know is why it took me this long to realize that." she lowered her head, the guilt coming back.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over this, everyone reacts to hate differently, and you reacted realistically. You'll get used to it, we all did, don't worry about it. And if you don't you can always talk to us, we won't think any less of you." well, if she wasn't emotional before, she was now. Celina felt tears burn the corners of her eyes, and she pushed herself off the headboard and reached out towards the bearded man. He chuckled softly, but wrapped his arms around her nonetheless. "It'll be alright, we'll all be here for you." he assured her, patting her back gently, while she released choked sobs, probably soaking the other's shirt.

~*~*~*

Celina calmed down enough to talk with the others. Michael could've easily landed in 3rd on how concerned he was for her. He admitted she was a part of the family and seeing her in that state was painful. He obviously held distaste for whomever sent her the voodoo doll. Gavin was another story. The first he did when he walked in the room was ask about her health. 10 times. It was heart warming, since there were rumors around the office that Gavin was heartless himself, though Celina was never sure on the truth behind them. She always assured the lad that she would be fine, but he never seemed satisfied with the answer. Ryan was next, and even though she barely talked with him, she could say there was a gentle giant beneath the Mad King facade. He must be a good husband and father...Not to say that in a creepy sense.

Ryan flashed her a half smile, ruffled her hair playfully, and left the room. Celina felt her heart warm after the door shut, sighing to herself softly. She sunk back down in the bed, eyes fluttering shut as she thought to herself. Or tried, until she heard more muffled speaking, followed by the door opening shortly after. She peeked one eye open again, about to say something, but jerked up when she saw Ray. Well crap, I forgot about him. Great friend you are, Celina. She cursed herself out mentally, not taking her gaze off of him while he sat down. And the guilt came back to her. Perfect.

"Uhm, hey Celina," he said, rather awkwardly. She couldn't blame him, though. It's not often you end up in a situation like his. She actually didn't know how to respond without sounding awkward herself, so she just nodded in response. "I'm sorry this happened. All of this. It's a lot to take in."

Celina bit the inside of her cheek, suddenly finding the sheets to be very interesting. "Don't be sorry. This is my fault. I let other people force me on what to think about myself, and what others thought of me. I just need to have better control, that's all." she forced out a small laugh, to make it sound a little light-hearted.

Ray was silent for a while after that, shifting in the seat every few seconds. "I saw the video, by the way." he spoke up.

"Pardon?"

"The video of your apartment tour. When me and the guys were at lunch, the place had wi-fi, so I watched some videos to take my mind off of this - off of what happened to you - and I kinda just found it."

"Oh."

"I'm gonna be honest with you. When you shut us out those past few weeks, I didn't think much about it. Yeah, I was worried about you, but you always brushed it off as nothing. I just thought it was like that one day where we read fan fictions at the office. You were silent almost all day then because of stress, and I figured that's what was happening here." Ray admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Well, part of it was stress, so you aren't completely wrong," Celina shrugged. "But the whole hate thing was just...I didn't have the best experiences when growing up, a lot of kids didn't like me, I was never the perfect figure for my father. All the hate just reminded me of my childhood. No, it never drove me to depression, thank god, but it was just brutal, you know?" she asked, slowly peeking back up to him.

"Not really a topic I relate on, but I can see what you mean," he nodded in slight understanding. "But Celina, can you promise me just one thing?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"That if you ever deal with this again, you'll say something. If a fan is giving you a hard time, just tell us. If we're like a family to you, were gonna damn well act like one."

She paused at that, slowly taking in what he told her. She repeated it a few times in her head, her lips twitching upwards slightly. She snickered softly, and nodded. "Yes, of course. I trust you guys." a sigh of relief from Ray.

"That's good, because no one's about to separate Team Hot Shots, am I right?" he joked, holding his fist out for her. She laughed again at that, shaking her head slowly, but still pumped her fist to his. "Well, I hate to leave you Rose, but there's still work for us. Rest up, okay? You'll recover quicker. I think. I'm not a doctor, so..." Ray trailed off, getting up from his seat. "Hopefully we'll get to visit you again sometime." with a final wave, he was heading back to the door.

"Hey Ray?"

"Yeah, Rose?"

"You know you're my best friend, right?"

"Yeeep."

"And you know I love you a lot, right? You know, as friends."

Silence. He was slowly pulling the door open, not looking back at her. "Yeah, I know." And with that, he was gone. And Celina was left to deal with her feelings. Especially growing ones for her best friend.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if anything that happens in this is completely accurate, but oh well. Another short, filler chapter here. And 100 kudos!? That's insane, thank you so much! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Celina's stay at the hospital was actually pretty short, considering what she had originally expected. The doctors told her if she ate plenty of food for 8 weeks, than she should recover from "starvation mode" as they called it. But they were allowing her to check out at 5 weeks if she wanted. And the 5 weeks were pretty relaxing for her. The hospital always provided enough food for her everyday. Sadie and her friends at work always took time to visit her when they could. Most common visitors happened to be Sadie, Lindsay, Gavin, and of course, Ray. Even if was super busy with editing, he found time to visit. It wasn't everyday, but enough to keep her company throughout the weeks. 

Celina always enjoyed his visits because she would take a picture of him on her phone discreetly, and then text it to him, followed by "Nerd". And a few minutes after he left, he'd respond with some random picture of her, followed by "Bigger nerd". It was just one of those friendships that Celina cherished, and never wanted to lose. She wasn't necessarily as close to him as she was with Sadie. She was more of a sister than anything.

Despite who showed up, all the company had somewhat quickened the 5 weeks on her end. And today was the day Sadie was signing her out. Or the day she promised to, anyway. She was just eager to get out of here. She was never really fond of hospitals as a kid, and she never did get used to them. Too many horror movies and stories that take place in one gets someone paranoid after a while. Sleeping here at night didn't help, either. God, did she get chills then.

Celina drummed her fingers against the bed lightly, glancing up at the clock every few minutes, watching the hands pass by at a laggard pace. It was almost painful to look at. It was like watching a snail cross the road. Very leisurely. She groaned to herself, banging her head back on the headboard, wincing as a small pain shot down to her neck. Fuck, never doing that again.  
If Sadie was going to check her out, it would probably be after she gets off work. It was already 4:26 in the afternoon, so she would have to be at work right now. Another 4 hours until her shift is over today. You can get through this, Celina. And just like that, the four hour wait had begun.

Celina didn't have much to do to pass the time. She mostly just watched TV, so when Lindsay came by, she felt extremely relieved. She was on the verge of falling asleep when she heard the door open slowly. Her head jerked up instantly, and she was greeted by the red-head. Lindsay smiled and waved to her. 

"Hey Cece, how you feeling?" she asked, pulling a chair over to the bed. Out of the names she had acquired over her time at Rooster Teeth, Lindsay's held a special place with her.

"A lot better, actually, not gonna lie," Celina answered, adjusting herself on the hospital bed so she was sitting up, careful not to put any strain on herself. "More excited to be getting out today, looking forward to work, and I never thought I'd say that." she laughed softly.

"It'll be nice having you back, that's for sure, I'm starting to miss the other huntress," Celina chuckled at that, scratching at the back of neck. " 'Sides, you gotta keep the lads in line for me when I'm not there, they might hurt themselves." she teased, winking and poked her elbow to Celina's shoulder.

Celina scoffed at that, raising an eyebrow at the other girl. "I'm a little worried to get close to Michael, who knows how protective the future Miss Jones is."

"That never stopped Gavin."

"Fair point."

The two continued to talk until it was getting close to 6:30, and Lindsay stated she'd have to leave now. She wished Celina to get better while she was at home, and before walking out, turned to say one last thing. "You know we're moving to another building, right?" she asked, and Celina frowned.

"Oh yeah. I heard it come up in conversation with others, but I didn't give it much thought." Celina admitted, looking down at her hands. She hated moving, having to live with a family that was never satisfied with where they were. She hated packing and moving boxes, unpacking them and having to start the process all over again.

"We're starting our packing next week, but you'll still be resting up, so Burnie wants you to just relax, considering the state you were just in." she explained, and Celina paled.

"You know, I could do some work with moving once I get back, it's not a problem." she said, not feeling comfortable with the others doing all the work, especially since her desk would be apart of it all.

"If there's anything else left to pack once you get back, if the guys don't get to it first, you could pack all the stuff from your desk, maybe?" Lindsay offered, shrugging. "We'll see how it goes when you get back, but for now, just relax. Your friend should be here soon." Lindsay waved one last time, before stepping out.

Celina sighed, sliding back down into the bed. Next week. That means two weeks of packing and moving until she got back. Surely they would at least have almost everything packed by then. She muttered to herself, sliding both hands through her hair, then dragging them down her face slowly. She was going to feel like the biggest piece of shit if they did everything, and she doesn't at least help with moving boxes.

~*~*~*

She wasn't sure how quickly the time passed, it felt like hours to her. She was just watching TV when a nurse came in, explaining to her that she was free to go. And never had Celina been more thrilled. They helped her into a wheelchair, which she thought was unnecessary, but went along with it. And then she was out in the hallway, on her way to the receptionist desk.

A short ride in the elevator later, and she was at the desk, where she saw Sadie waiting. The nurse explained a few things to her, all of which Celina toned out. She was just excited to get out of here. After a few minutes, the nurse wheeled Celina out, Sadie leading the way. They got to the car, the nurse helping her in, before taking the the wheelchair back.

Sadie started the car, and Celina twiddled her thumbs. This was a little awkward. After a few minutes of Sadie's driving, she cleared her throat to break the silence. "Been a while." she stated simply.

Celina gazed up at her through the corner of her eye, then back down. "Just a little bit, it'll be nice to be back home, though."

"Sleeping in a hospital must've been unnerving for you." Sadie teased, laughing a little, and earned a whine from Celina.

"It's horrible in hospitals at night. No wonder a lot of people hate them. I would never explore an abandoned one. That sounds like a suicide mission."

"Maybe now you won't watch so many horror movies?"

"No can do, hun. While they still scare me shitless, I still hold a soft spot for horror. Maybe it's the adrenaline."

"Just keep those movies away from me, and we'll be good."

"No promises there."

It had only been a few minutes since she left the hospital, but Celina already found something, or someone, worth living for.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Rips shirt off*  
> *Punches a hole through a wall*
> 
> I'M NOT DEAD!
> 
> Oh god, I'm so sorry guys. A lot of shit happened in the past few months. I had a family member die, got to meet an online friend for the first time in person, went to Otakon, and now we're having issues of signing me up for an online school. I start November 3rd, kill me.
> 
> You guys honestly deserve a better chapter than this, considering the wait, I'm honestly the worst, but I hope you enjoy, none the less :c  
> (Let's pretend it's Saturday when I uploaded this, I wanted to get this to you guys as soon as I could)

It was a surreal feeling. Being able to do the thing she loved with people she loved. It was almost like she was never gone in the first place. When Celina returned to work, while everyone was preparing for the big move, she was instantly bombarded with 'welcome back's' from everyone. It was honestly quite touching. But it made her feel more guilty about her decisions. Everything did, and there was no going back from what she had done to herself. She didn't know why it took so long to realize that the people here honestly cared about her. Whether it was the relentless questions from Kara asking if she was alright, Miles trying to get her to laugh (which worked in the end), or the bear hug from Burnie. But it was touching for her, and she felt welcome all over again.

3 weeks have passed after the company moved, and everyone was pretty much adjusted in the new place. It was nice, actually. Wasn't too far away from Celina's and Sadie's apartment, so she could get used to it. Of course, memorizing the new layout and not getting it mixed up with the old 363 building was a little tough for her, but she wasn't alone. A lot of co-workers were willing to help and it amazed her. How she loved this place.

She tugged on her hoodie sleeves, pushing them up to her elbows. The May air wasn't too cold, pretty warm actually. Wearing a hoodie probably wasn't the smartest decision, but the building would probably be a little chilly. Besides, it was kind of like her trademark, if she could call it that. She readjusted her bag, and pulled her braid so it rested over her shoulder, some strands coming loose in the process. She rarely styled her hair in a braid, so it felt foreign to her. But nice. Change was nice. Her sandals were slapping against the pavement as she made her way to her job, passing by familiar buildings. At least she knew she wasn't lost this time. Her cheeks went warm as she thought back to the first few times she tried to make her way to the new place. Very embarrassing.

A few minutes passed as she continued down the same side walk, often going left and right when she needed to. Her phone, resting in her hoodie pocket, was vibrating ever 5 minutes, alerting her of texts, tweets, and the occasional wrong number calling. It was ridiculous, and a little annoying at the time. Must be something important. She was almost at work anyway, though, she'd check it there when she had the time.

~*~*~*

A relieved sigh escaped her lips as she stepped inside the cool building, goosebumps forming on her forearms from the temperature change. It was nice to be back. Even if today was a Tuesday. Shaking the thoughts from her head, she made her way over to the Achievement Hunter office. A lot more spacious compared to the last one. She was about to open the door, when a pair of arms wrapped around one of hers, pulling her back slightly. She squeaked, surprised from the sudden action, spinning around to face whoever pulled her. Kara. Of course.

"Celina, didn't you get my text?" she asked, her tone was earnest, but there a mischievous glint in her eyes. How was that even possible?

"I, um, haven't had the time to check it?" she answered nervously, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Guess it really was important. Fuck, was she screwed?

Kara smiled after that, waving her worry off. "That's alright! Burnie wanted me to tell you that he wants you on the next podcast!" she beamed, arms detaching themselves from Celina's, and her hands instantly went to her braid. Kara reminded her of a kitten. It was kinda adorable. "Geoff already knows too, so you shouldn't have too much work from him today."

"Sounds great, when's the podcast starting?" 

"Right after lunch, so make sure you're ready then, alright?"

"I should be ready then, if not, we're gonna have to pray for the people watching," Celina remarked, a little sarcastically. "But I should probably get to work now. I don't how much editing I have to do, but it's probably gonna take a while." Kara nodded in understanding, and Celina turned back to the office, about to walk in again.

"Wait, Celina!" the urgency in Kara's voice stopped her immediately, and she looked over her shoulder, concerned. "I hope you're holding up fine, don't let anyone get to you, mkay?" her smile was assuring and Celina nodded slowly.

"I'll, uh, see you around, Kara." she smiled weakly. That was... a little different. Kara hadn't said anything like that since Celina got out of the hospital. Wonder why she decided to bring it up again. She was just... being nice. Looking after her. That's it. Celina swallowed back a lump in her throat and went inside the office, noticing all the others were present. Geoff and Michael looked like they were setting up for a recording, Jack and Ryan were busy editing, and Ray and Gavin looked they were already set for a video. Gavin had himself occupied by messing around with stuff on Michael's desk, much to his annoyance, and Ray was busy on his phone, goofy smile present. Must be something entertaining.

"Hey, Celina's here, why don't you go say hi, Gav?" Michael suggested, still trying to get things set up. The brit's head spun around and he grinned at her.

"This is not how I imagined my day to start, the hell, Michael?" she couldn't help but laugh. "Great to see you though, Gavin." she walked over to her desk, tossing her bag under it and plopping down in the chair. Jack and Gavin said their usual good mornings, Michael gave a small greeting, and Ray and Geoff muttered something as well. Odd. She was used to that from Geoff early in the morning, but not Ray. He must be tired. She turned her computer on, waiting for the system to start up. It would take a few minutes, so she used this time to check her phone. 3 missed calls. All numbers she didn't remember. A few tweets and texts. Kara said she texted her earlier, so she decided to check those first.

Kara: Hey Celina! I got a message from Burnie saying he wants you on the podcast, is that alright?

Kara: Celina? You there?

Kara: You're okay, right?

Celina blinked at the messages. Is that why she was worried at first? It would explain a lot, actually. She mentally cursed herself out for not checking her phone sooner. She didn't want anyone to worry about her physical state again. They didn't need to worry about her. She shook her head, deciding to ignore those for now, and checked the last one.

Lindsay: Hey! The girls and I are hanging out together for lunch, you wanna come?

Lindsay: I know you and 'The Lads' usually go out together, but how about hanging out with the girls for a while?

She smiled at that, noticing it was sent a little while before she got here. It did sound nice actually. And the guys probably want a day to themselves, do whatever it is they do.

Celina: Sure! Sounds fun, where we going?

Lindsay: Shh, that's a secret for now ;)

Celina: Aaaalright, I see how it's gonna be. See you at lunch, then

Lindsay: See ya!

Lindsay was the best. Out of all the girls here, Celina probably liked hanging out with her most. They even had a mutual follow on Tumblr. That kind of friendship is sacred. She slipped her phone back in her pocket, turning her attention back to her computer. Her screen was lit up, the wallpaper displaying a piece of fanart that she received on her original channel. Might need to change it soon, she thought to herself, pulling up her editing software and got to work.

~*~*~*

Hours passed and the video was almost finished. Thank God. She was grumbling to herself in her head, leaning on one of her arms on the desk, trying to stay awake. Should've gotten coffee when she got here. That probably would've been smart. Dammit. She started to yawn, raising her hoodie collar up to her mouth to stifle the noise. Coffee sounded really good right now. She made a mental reminder to get some during lunch so she wasn't a complete wreck on the podcast.

She was about to continue working on the video, when she felt something bump her chair. Or in this case, someone. Holding back another yawn, she slid her headphones off lazily, turning to look at who bumped her. Ray. Funny, she didn't hear from him all day, if you don't count his small greeting earlier. Did that even count as a greeting.

"You alright there, Celina?" he asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. He didn't sound as concerned as Kara did earlier.

A lazy smile grazed her features as she leaned back in her chair. "I'm fine. Just a lil' tired." she slurred on her words, rubbing her eyes.

"Damn, you look drunk. Didn't think that was possible for you." he teased, smiling back.

"If this is what it's like to be drunk, I'm adding that on my list of reasons why I don't wanna drink," she mumbled, rolling her head back to stare at the ceiling. "Aren't you doing a let's play with the guys? What happened?"

"Man, you're really out of it. We finished that a couple hours ago."

"You serious, what time is it?"

"A couple minutes until lunch, actually." Celina shot up at that. Did that much time pass already?

"Oh crap, I have to finish this video, then!" she exclaimed, quickly putting her headphones back on, and working on the last few details.

Ray chuckled at her sudden energy, getting up from his chair. "Take it easy there, Rose. Don't want you overworking yourself." he gave her a pat on the shoulder, and she nodded in response, not really paying attention. She was close to finishing, and she didn't want to hold the other girls up when they're ready for lunch.

By the time she was finished with the video, she hadn't realized the office was empty, except for the other room where Caleb, Kdin, and Lindsay did their work. Celina sighed, glad the video was finally finished, and just in time for lunch, too. She saved it and e-mailed it to Geoff, when her phone vibrated again. Oh yeah, she never checked her tweets. Although, due to recent events, she was wary of that site, but she never came across anything too bad. Pulling her headphones off, she fished her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it and checking the message. Ray retweeted something, it looked like.

@TinaDayton: Heading out for lunch with this nerd.

She cocked an eyebrow, curious why Ray would retweet it. There was a photo attachment, though. That might give her some answers. Clicking on the link, a picture of Ray came up, which came as a surprise to her. Who was Tina? Did Ray ever mention her before? Are they friends...or dating? She felt her stomach churn at the last thought, biting her lip and putting her phone away. Why should she care? Her and Ray were friends, she shouldn't get into his personal life, anyway. If they were friends, that was fine. If they were dating, that was fine, too. But her mind disagreed with that. And she was well aware of that.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this chapter honestly. Just some banter between Celina and Lindsay. If you guys are in to that, I dunno.
> 
> By the by, does anyone else watch Walking Dead? I'm so excited for the episode tomorrow. Beth is coming back, so much hype!

"All I'm saying is that those previous guys were blind." Celina groaned at the comment, burying her face behind her hands. She regretted many things in the past, but bringing up the subject of Lindsay's wedding, while proceeding to joke about her single life, was at the the top of the list. And the cat lover made it her mission to assure her that it wouldn't be like that forever. Even after Celina pointed out her past date attempts. Lindsay was determined.

"Honestly, I think they had some common sense. I was a wreck back then." she sighed, taking a sip of her coffee. Both of the girls were currently in the kitchen. It was well after 7, most of the employees had left. Lindsay herself was waiting on Michael, whom was editing something. Celina was done with work, but stayed behind to keep her friend company.

"Nope. No excuses. They were still blind for letting you pass up. You're not a wreck now, their loss," Lindsay stated matter of factly. "And besides. You've been on plenty of dates in the past, I think you still got it in ya." she winked playfully, grinning.

"Got what? I'm the most awkward person you'll ever meet." Celina scoffed, but smiled at her friend's choice of words.

"Nah, gotta give that to Ray, sorry."

"Why are we even on this subject? Can we talk about something else?"

"Hm? What did you have in mind?"

"Anything besides my love life, would be preferable." Celina muttered, and Lindsay chuckled.

"Don't forget, you're the one who brought it up," she pointed out. Celina opened her mouth to respond, when someone's phone vibrated. Curiosity piqued, Lindsay reaching in her pocket, checking her phone. "Nope, not me." she said, looking at Celina expectantly, which she waved off.

"Eh, I'll check it later. It's probably just Sadie," she shrugged, taking another sip of her drink. Lindsay furrowed her brows, but shrugged it off. It probably wasn't that important. Right?  
A comfortable silence followed, Lindsay scrolling on her phone and Celina lost in thought, idly tapping her fingers against the rim of the Starbucks cup. Neither of them complained about the silence, and that was the best part. It was nice. 

Ding!

Well, it was nice. This time, the text was from Lindsay's phone. She read over the message, before smiling sheepishly. "Michael's finished with editing, so I guess I'm heading off then."

Celina blinked, processing the information before nodding quickly. "Oh yeah, I should be heading off myself before it gets too dark. Walking home alone at night creeps me out," she said, picking up her bag from the floor and swinging the strap around her shoulder. "See you tomorrow, Linds." both girls waved to each other as they left the kitchen, before going separate ways. She walked out of the building, and took note of the dark blue sky. The sun already set. She was just relieved it wasn't pitch black out.

After she put some distance between herself and the building, she pulled her phone out, unlocking it. A message from Sadie. Just as she thought.

Sadie: Got off work early, anything in mind for dinner?

Celina: Just left. Maybe pizza?

Sadie: That can be arranged. You know when you'll get here?

Celina: It's a 10 minute walk, at least. Maybe a little longer.

Sadie: Got it, see you in a bit!

She smiled to herself, sticking her phone back in her pocket. The joys of living with a friend. Pretty much every kids dream. Well, almost every kid. No rules from parents. No school. Being able to live with Sadie was one of the best things to happen in her life, she thought. That sounded kinda cheesy, though. Scratch all of that. It was just really nice living with your best friend. There we go, that's better.

~*~*~*

Upon arriving at her apartment, Sadie was quick to greet her from the living room, doing whatever it is she does on her laptop. "How was work, today?" she asked, beaming.

Celina smiled back, kicking her shoes off and lazily dumping her bag down on the floor, going over to the other couch. "Same as always, I suppose. A lot of editing. Lunch. Got to be on a podcast though, that was pretty fun," she explained, stretching out on the cushions, hearing a satisfying 'pop'. "I imagine Wal-Mart was fun for you too?"

"Oh man, you know it. I love dealing with grouchy and or sarcastic customers." Sadie muttered sarcastically.

"I bet," Celina giggled, picking up the remote, seeing if anything good was on TV, before settling on Friends. "You know when the pizza's gonna get here? I haven't had anything since lunch." she whined, looking up at Sadie with pleading eyes.

"You can wait another 20 minutes, don't complain."

"Aw, you're no fun."

"You love me, though. That's all the matters," Celina pouted, folding her arms at the responses. "Come on, don't make that face," Sadie tried her best to stifle her laughter, which was becoming harder by the second. Celina only huffed, turning to look away. "Oh my god, are we doing this now?"

"I don't know, are we?" Celina asked innocently, only to get hit with a pillow. "Okay fine, I'm done. For now." she sighed, sitting up on the couch and pulling her legs towards her, leaning against the back cushions. And just like when she was with Lindsay, another silence followed, with the exception of the TV blaring and Sadie typing. Just a nice, relaxing, comfortable-

Ding!

Oh god dammit! Celina threw her head back, groaning in frustration, pulling her phone out of her hoodie pocket. Lindsay texted her. What could she need? Unlocking her phone, read over the message, feeling her cheeks heat up.

Lindsay: Forgot to mention this at work, but I can tell someone here really likes you.

Lindsay: I told you you still got it!

What in the hell. No. She was not going to stand for this. Lindsay would not get away with this. She quickly tapped out her reply with that thought in mind.

Celina: I'm calling bullshit.

Lindsay: Suit yourself.

Celina: Wait no. Come on, you gotta tell me who it is.

Lindsay: Where's the fun in that? I think I'd rather them tell you instead. ;)

Celina: Lindsaaay, you can't just tell me that, and not say whooo

Lindsay: Sorry, I promised them I wouldn't say who it was.

Celina: whAT!?

Lindsay: If it makes you feel better though. It is a guy.

Lindsay: You did say you were Pansexual, after all. I think that narrows it down.

Celina: Literally every girl there that I know is bi is taken. This does not help in the slightest.

There wasn't a reply after that, and her grip on her phone tightened in frustration. She could just imagine Lindsay on the other end laughing to herself. Maybe stroking a cat if she had one. Yeah, that'd add to the effect.

"Who was it?" Sadie asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. 

"Just a co-worker, nothing important, really." Celina shrugged, putting her phone away. It wasn't a complete lie, so it worked for her. But this was honestly going to bug her. She could probably narrow it down to a few guys, but even then she wouldn't know. Obviously wouldn't be Michael, Geoff, Jack, or Ryan. Gavin was dating Meg. Kerry and Miles were in a relationship. Was Kdin single? She honestly didn't know herself. They never talked much. Fuck this. Lindsay was probably just messing with her head.

Right?


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting back into characterization for these people is not easy what am I doing with my life
> 
> Nothing much to put here also, sooo random question. Did anyone else watch 10 Little Roosters? Me and my sister have been exchanging theories and if you guys have any, I'd love to hear them!  
> (Also, from this point on, I'll be replying to any comment I get on this story. I probably should've been doing that but....yeh...)

It had only been 3 days since Lindsay mentioned someone liked her, and it was already getting to her. Either she told the other girls or this "guy" told them he liked her or something! But all she knew is that they were in on it as well, and it was starting to piss her off. Hell, probably everyone in the company knew at this point besides her! That much was made clear when she stepped into work that morning.

~*~*~*

Friday morning. That meant a few things to Celina. One, there would be a Minecraft Let's Play today. Second, she was just a few hours away from being able to sleep in for two days. Not that she was complaining, actually. She could manage to survive for those few hours. Y'know, if it isn't totally insane inside. Everyday was an adventure, it seemed.

Sucking in a deep breath, she pushed open the doors, and greeted by Kara as usual. Although, the blonde was acting different. She wasn't playing with Celina's hair, as she normally did. She did poke at her arms and sides a lot, though. That was new.

"Sooo, Cece?" Kara drew out, beaming up at the confused brunette, almost childishly. The nickname was also new. 

"What's up?" she asked, tilting her head in slight confusion.

"I heard that someone here likes you, aren't you lucky?" she snickered behind her hand, and Celina grunted, brushing her other hand away from her. "Aw, come on Cece. He's a nice guy, you two would be so cute together!"

"I'm still calling bullshit. If someone did like me, wouldn't he have said something now?" she muttered, running a hand down the side of her face.

"Don't put it against him, you two don't really hang out that much. But I'm sure if you diiid~" she poked Celina's stomach this time, which earned a huff of annoyance, the other girl sulking off to the kitchen. "You know it's true, Cece!"

The last comment went ignored. Maybe she was being stubborn, but she didn't really like that both Lindsay AND Kara knew who this guy was and she didn't. This was just like High school. If someone had a crush on you, they'll literally tell everyone except you. Why did he tell them, anyway? That was the real question.

Upon entering the kitchen, Celina was relieved to see that someone already made some coffee, and Barbara. She loved Lindsay to death and all, but she didn't want to deal with this crush stuff right now. Besides, Barb was cool. If you look past the puns and dick drawings, she was really fun to hang out with.

The blonde was stirring a spoon around in a coffee mug, glancing up when Celina walked in. The two exchanged a small greeting, while Celina set her bag down, and got a mug for herself. "Hey Celina, how're you feeling today?" Barbara asked, turning around to face the other.

"Alright, I guess." she shrugged, pouring herself some coffee.

"Well, word around the office is that a certain guy is feeling crushed for you." she snickered and Celina almost dropped her mug.

"Are you serious? You know about that too?"

"Word travels fast here, a better question is, who doesn't know at this point?"

"This is getting ridiculous now, can't someone just tell me who it is?"

"Nooo, no no. You gotta have patience. He'll come to you, don't worry," Barbara assured, took a sip from her mug, and headed off. "I'll see you later, Celina. Got work to do, though." she called, drawing out the 'o' in though. 

She sighed, shaking her head. Well that wasn't the refreshing breeze she needed. She hoisted her bag on her shoulder, picked up her mug and ventured off to the Achievement Hunter office. They'd probably be getting ready in a few minutes, anyway. Don't want to keep them waiting. More than she probably has already. And just pray that they don't know about this stupid crush or don't bring it up. And it looks like the odds were in her favor. As soon as she stepped in the office, she was greeted as usual. Nothing more, nothing less. She slowly set her mug on her desk, careful not to spill any coffee, and then dumped her bag under it.

"Soo, Celina," Gavin started, and she felt like she wanted to bang her head on her desk. Please don't let it be that, please don't, she thought to herself. "Are you excited at all for the King Let's Play?" he grinned, and she mentally sighed with relief.

"Yeah, course. Queen Celina is going to be the best Queen." she answered, spinning her chair around to face the brit, returning the smile.

"You think you'll make it to the end, Ray?" Jack teased.

"I won't make it to the end of the month." Ray muttered. She chuckled at that, spinning back around to turn her computer on.

"Come on Ray, I'm sure it'll be fun," she quipped, reaching over to nudge his arm a little. "Queen Celina might show you mercy."

"I don't think you could get worse than Ryan," Geoff mumbled. "So long as murder isn't in every god damn challenge."

"I think the fans would disagree with you there, Geoff." Ryan pointed out, which earned another laugh from her.

"I don't know guys, we'll see how it goes."

~*~*~*

30 minutes have passed already. 30 minutes of recording. So far, they got through 5 challenges. A point for Geoff, Jack, Gavin, and two for Ryan so far. Celina watched the screen, amused by the display. No wonder they liked this spot. It was really fun to watch them scramble around.

"So, I guess you guys are ready for the next challenge, yeah?" she held back a giggle as she watched everyone run back in front of the throne. "Alright, for this challenge, I want you all to pick a spot somewhere in the room. You can't be right next to anybody though, that defeats the purpose," she explained, and they all obeyed, some picking a wall to stand at, some picking a corner. "Mkay, now go in second person. Got it? Aaaalright, here's the catch. You gotta use inverted controls for this."

A chorus of groans followed after. "Way to make it fucking easy, Celina." Michael grumbled, and she couldn't help but giggle at that. She was practically living off their frustration at this point.

"Gotta make it unique. Everyone done? Good. Now, last man standing is the winner, go!" she announced, and just like that, they were off. Now this, this was amusing to watch. It took a while to get used to the inverted controls, while trying to find the others, which earned a lot of swears. Some were already fighting, while others were just lost. The best part though? When one of them accidentally wandered into a fight without any knowledge of it.

"Guys, I think we have our Mad Queen now. We should be terrified." Ray stated, currently trying to fight off Geoff.

"Hey now, this is the only challenge with murder!" she defended, faking a pout. "And please don't say Mad Queen, Tumblr's gonna go crazy over that, most likely."

"I'm more than certain that people pair us together at this point, Celina." Ryan added, but smiling nonetheless. Probably because he was currently killing Gavin in the game, much to the brit's discomfort.

"Stay away from me you scottish bastard!" he squawked, rapidly mashing buttons on his controller, which earned laughter from the guys. And then Michael showed up behind him, helping Ryan. "Michael, not you too!" he yelped, dying shortly after.

"I don't want to say I'm murder crazy or anything, but this is quite amusing to watch." Celina chuckled, keeping track of who was left. Looks like it was just Ryan and Michael.

"Yup, totally the Mad Queen."

"Shut up, Ray."

A few seconds after Gavin died, Ryan's character finally fell over, and thus ended the sixth challenge. "Alright, I gotta hand it to Celina. That was a clever challenge." Geoff admitted.

"Hard, but clever. Good job, Celina." Jack nodded in agreement.

"I'm gonna be honest here, I don't think I have enough challenges planned for this. This is not going out the way I originally planned," Celina said, throwing a gold block towards Michael. "But that's not important right now, who's ready for the next challenge?"

"Can we kill each other in this one?" Ryan asked immediately, surprising the girl.

"I...no, no killing. Unless you count murdering wildlife, which I personally don't," she explained, with a simple shrug and an expression that read 'sorry'. "Moving on, though. If you look in your chests, you'll find a diamond pickaxe. I want all of you to build a nether portal. You can't use obsidian from any existing portal, and you can't use the bucket method. Ready, go!"

~*~*~*

She couldn't believe it. Someone got four gold blocks, but she couldn't believe who. Gavin Free. He actually won, and she was honestly impressed. And happy for the brit. Watching his character skip around the tower warmed her heart. "Well, Gav, congratulations. I don't think any of use expected that." she said, beaming.

"Damn, good job buddy, you really pulled through here," Geoff added, a chuckle following at the end. "So I guess that's the end of this. Anyone have anything else to say?"

"I was a damn good Queen."

"Still in shock Gav won."

"We all are.

"Still not going to last the end of the month."

"God dammit." Geoff muttered, before ending the recording.

Celina stood up from her seat, grabbing her mug in the process. "I'll be right back guys, please don't destroy anything while I'm gone." she joked, making her way to the door.

"No promises." that was the last thing she heard before she closed the door, rolling her eyes. Lunch was in another 30 minutes, so she probably had time for another cup of coffee so she could last for the rest of the day. 

Walking in the kitchen, she wasn't surprised to see the small pot empty. She shrugged it off, setting her mug down so she could make some more. Halfway through the process, she heard someone come into the kitchen, but they didn't say anything. Probably just waiting on the coffee. Yeah, that's a safe bet. She tapped her fingers against the counter, waiting for the caffeinated drink to finish, when someone cleared their throat behind her.

"Hey, uh, Celina?" a male's voice said behind her, one she recognized, and sounded nervous for some reason. She turned around to face whoever it was, flashing him a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if this technically counts as a cliffhanger or not but
> 
> Who do you guys think it is? Whoever likes Celina? Maaaaybe


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early chapter today, whoo!
> 
> Soo, random note today. Ten Little Roosters. I'm not sure if anyone reading hasn't watched it yet, but's planning to, so I'll be vague here. Did anyone else find that last death ridiculous? I'm seriously hoping one of them in particular doesn't die.  
> (coughcoughchriscoughcough)
> 
> But anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter~

"Hey Chris, what's up?" Celina asked cheerfully, smiling up at him. The taller male was grinning, looking down at his hands while he cracked his knuckles, shifting his weight occasionally. "Oh, uh, are you waiting for the coffee because I swear I'm-"

"No, it's not that. I wanted to ask you something," he quickly interrupted. He sucked in a small breath, before he looked up at her, determination in his eyes. "I was curious if you want to go to Chipotle or Subway for lunch?" he asked, and she blinked, a little surprised. But he took the short silence the wrong way. "I mean, if you want to do something else, that's cool. We could probably get Pizza Rolls and bring them back here if you want."

"I wasn't going to decline your offer, don't get me wrong. I'm just...shocked, I guess?" she tried her best to explain. "I mean, I'd love to go to lunch with you, but why the sudden question?"

Chris seemed relieved to hear that, and visibly relaxed. "Well, my friends bet that I couldn't ask you out," she raised an eyebrow at him. "T-to lunch, ask you out to lunch. Brandon and Kyle bet me 20 bucks I couldn't ask you out to lunch." he quickly said, offering her a sheepish smile.

She couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "That's cute, but why me?" she asked, turning back around to pour herself some coffee. "There's quite a few girls here who are way more attractive, y'know?"

He shifted his weight nervously again, sticking his hands in his pocket. "Well, not a lot of girls here are single, but you are, so it works." she looked at him from over her shoulder, giving him a look.

"Why does that matter?" she asked, but shook her head after. "Don't care. Just promise me you won't get us food for 10 people. I don't think my poor stomach could handle that."

"Alright, cool, see you at lunch then, Celina!" he said, his voice almost giddy, and she heard him running out of the kit. She smiled to herself, shaking her head slowly as she stirred some milk into the coffee. He was an interesting guy, alright. She dumped the spoon in the sink, before stalking back to the office.

After she got situated at her desk, she pulled up her editing software, and then her phone while she waited for it to load. After the whole conversation with Lindsay about her love life, she pretty much made Celina promise to keep her updated when it came to guys. The girl meant well, but it seemed a little ridiculous.

Celina: Question.

Lindsay: I may have an answer.

Celina: If a guys asks you out for lunch as a bet, would you consider that a date?

Lindsay: Who was it?

Celina: That is not an answer.

Lindsay: You're not getting an answer until you tell me who.

Celina: You're being difficult.

Celina: Oh my god, fine. It was Damarais, happy?

Not even a few seconds after the text went through, there was a squeal from the Team Thug's room. Celina whipped her head around to look at the office, as well as a few others. 

"The hell was that?" Geoff asked, pulling his headphones down around his neck. Celina's phone vibrated right after, pulling her attention back.

Lindsay: You mentioned a bet, right?

Celina: Uh, yeah. Kyle and Brandon bet that he couldn't do it. Why?

Celina: Lindsay? Were you the one who squealed?

Celina: I still didn't get my answer, dammit.

There wasn't a reply after that, much to her annoyance. She huffed out a sigh, shoving her phone back in her pocket before she started editing. Only 22 minutes until lunch. She could make it till then. Hopefully.

~*~*~*

"Oh my god, you suck at this."

"Yeah, well, I'd like to see you do better."

Celina smirked at the challenge, picking a tortilla chip out of the bag. She broke off one of the corners and tilted her head back. "You're gonna eat those words, Demarais," she tossed the crumb in the air an it landed a few centimeters from her mouth, and ended up falling on her lap. "Uh...You didn't see that."

"Yeah, so much better." Chris teased and she scoffed, shooting him a playful glare.

"What part of, "You didn't see that," did you not understand?" she asked, the corner of her lips twitching up in a smirk, raking her fork through her uneaten food. When lunch came around, the two decided on going to Chipotle and then bring it back to work. Despite Chris seeming a little nervous when he first asked her, he was rather open during the drive there and back. It was actually nice hanging out with him. Celina rarely saw him around the building, since she mainly worked for Achievement Hunter, so this seemed like a good bonding moment. If you could call it that, anyway.

He shrugged, taking a bite out of his burrito. "Say what you want, still missed." he insisted, smiling to show he was joking.

"Got way closer then you did, and that's what matters," she picked up the crumb from her lap and tossed it onto her napkin. "I'm clearly the best, hands down."

"I thought I did pretty good."

"You threw it over your head, hun."

"That's probably better than most people."

She rolled her eyes, chuckling under her breath. "Whatever you say, bud," she shook her head slowly, scooping up some of the rice from her burrito bowl. "Whatever you say." she ate the forkful, and began scraping at the bottom of the bowl again, pushing small scraps together.

"So, Celina," Chris began, and she looked up at him, quirking an eyebrow. "What's it like working for Achievement Hunter?" he asked, pushing his food from him so he could prop his arms up on the picnic table.

"I've literally worked here for four months, I find it a little sad that you're only now asking me this. We need to hang out more," she said, the last part more in a joking manner. "But it's nice. The guys are fun to be around, and they were really accepting when I came in, so that's a plus," she shrugged, drumming her fingers against the table in thought. She didn't really do much in Achievement Hunter compared to other people who worked here, and she knew that. But she was just as important to the company as anyone else here, and she was aware of that, also. "I think being able to work here in general is nice. I can't tell you how happy and shocked I was when I got that e-mail. It's just, it's nice having a job you like, y'know?"

Chris nodded in understanding, his smile softening. "Yeah, I know the feeling," he admitted, ducking his head to look back down at his food. "And I think I'll take you up on that offer."

"Hm?" she tilted her head, taking a small sip of her soda. "What offer?"

"That we should hang out more," he reminded, his voice growing softer with each syllable. "I mean, I had fun today. I'm not saying we have to get lunch again, just...I don't know." he shrugged, gaze still directed at the table, picking at some of the wood.

She couldn't help but smile at his shy demeanor, finding it to be cute. Chris was one of those guys who has this innocent aura that makes you want to hug him. Honestly, he reminded her of a lost puppy. It was hard to say no. "I honestly don't mind hanging out with you again. I love being around anyone here. We could probably do something after work one of these days."

Chris peered back up at her, corners of his lips twitching up slightly, a hopeful glint in his eyes. "In that case, could I have your number?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because you guys totally suspected Chris, right. Right???
> 
> I'm gonna be honest, I was lost on how to write his personality. I know he can be soft spoken sometimes, but what if he's around a girl he likes, y'know?  
> Maybe I'm just bad at writing in character, I dunno.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly didn't know what I was going to do with this chapter, so take some Chris/Celina. Also, what do you guys think of that ship? I still need a name for it.
> 
> And to anyone who's watching Ten Little Roosters, let me just say the recent episode killed me. They were my survivor, too. Fuck these references, man.
> 
> (Still unsure of how I'm writing Chris, but oh well. Hope you enjoy~)

"Okay, seriously, who do you keep texting?" Celina held her phone against her chest, glancing over at Sadie, her eyebrow raised expectantly.

"Um...why do you ask?" Celina asked, trying to avoid the topic, smiling nervously.

"Normally I wouldn't care, but it's been like this for the past two hours. This hasn't happened before, you realize," she pointed out. "I'm just a little curious, that's all."

Celina bit into her lip nervously, raising her phone up slightly to peek at the screen, before pressing it flat against her chest again. "Co-worker, that's all."

"Ray?"

"No..."

"Lindsay?"

"No."

"Barbara?"

"Oh my god."

"Well, those are the people you talk to most," Sadie shrugged helplessly, and Celina couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "Just help me out here. I'm not gonna tease you or anything."

She sighed, looking down at her hands, drumming her thumbs against the back of her phone. "Okay, fine. It's Chris. He asked if I wanted to hang out with him during lunch yesterday, exchanged phone numbers, and we've been talking whenever we can."

Sadie tilted her head, shifting her gaze down to her lap and tapped a finger to her chin, repeating the name in her head. "Chris....Yeah, I...I think I know who you're talking about." she nodded finally, shooting Celina a cheeky smile.

"Hey, stop that. Don't give me that face. You told me you wouldn't tease." she whined, almost in a playful manner. Almost. Considering how long she's lived with Sadie, that expression was anything but good. For Celina, anyway.

"I didn't say anything. Therefore I'm not teasing you. That's how this works, no?" Celina narrowed her eyes at her friend, who was trying to hold back a laugh. "Okay, okay, I'm just kidding." she finally said, waving her hand dismissively, smile still in place.

She still had her eyes narrowed, but directed her attention back to her phone, reading the message Chris sent a few minutes ago. Her lips twitched up slightly, tapping out her own reply. Honestly, Celina didn't expect to be this close with him, especially since they hung out for the first time yesterday. They'd often pass by each other when going around the building, but they never really had time to sit down and talk. Mostly just small greetings every now and then. It was funny that they were here now, a day later, texting each other for more than an hour.

Celina: My roommate is growing suspicious, we may have to tune this down a bit.

Chris: Same over here. How do you propose we fix that?

Celina: Let's try waiting at least 5 minutes and see what happens.

Celina: Totally won't suspect a thing.

Chris: Wow. You weren't kidding about being the best yesterday, were you?

Celina: I never joke about stuff like that, hun. My titles are important to me.

Chris: Does the same go for the food enthusiast?

Celina: .....

Celina: Is that what I am, now?

Chris: That's what I've been hearing around the office, anyway.

Food enthusiast. The fuck kind of title was that? Who even gave her that title? Not her, that's for sure. Gavin? Lindsay? Miles? She slowly peeked over her shoulder at Sadie, who was now focused on her show. She cautiously stook her arm out, poking her friends arm a few times, until she had her attention.

"What's up?" Sadie asked, still not looking away from the TV.

"Would you say I'm a food enthusiast?" that seemed to grab her full attention. She paused whatever it was she was watching, shifting on the couch to face the other. "Um, it's not that important, you realize."

"Well, enthusiasts are people who are interested in a certain subject," Sadie began, Celina only nodding, for a lack of a better response. "And you always seem eager to try new recipes, or just food you haven't before, would you say that counts as being interested?" she asked, though it sounded more rhetorical.

"I guess?" Celina shrugged, still unsure of how to reply. When you phrase it like that, it did make a bit more sense. But...she still wouldn't say she was eager to try anything she hasn't before. Like cow tongue, for example. She didn't make any plans on trying that any time soon. Guess it depends on who you're asking.

Celina: Well, it's certainly a new name, I'll give it that.

Celina: I think it would apply more to middle school me, though.

Chris: I don't know, you seemed pretty eager to get everything while we were at Chipotle.

Celina: At least I don't bully the people working there.

Celina: But hey, as far as dates go, that was pretty fun.

Chris: So you're saying it was a date?

Celina: Take it however you want, lunch date, friend date, whatever.

Celina: All I'm saying is that I had fun with you. Probably topped my first date with my ex :)

There wasn't a reply after that, which she shrugged off, setting her phone down on the couch. Sadie took immediate notice to this but didn't say anything, instead giving small side glances to her friend, searching for any negative emotions. Celina was grateful for that. It was silent between the two, Sadie watching her show while Celina pretended to, lost in her own thoughts. Maybe the last text was a little too much. They only started hanging out yesterday, and she was comparing it to her first date. Lindsay did say that a guy at the office liked her, but that doesn't mean it was Chris. Hell, he was probably just trying to be friendly, and then she bombarded him with that.

She wanted to scream into a pillow, suddenly feeling anxious about what Chris was thinking right now. More specifically, what he thought of her. But of course, she couldn't do that with Sadie in the room. Fuck. She bit the inside of her cheek, hard enough to draw blood, although the pain didn't really phase her. But it didn't feel good either. Everything just felt...numb. How could she be this fucking stupid?

Her phone vibrated, which was rather audible on the couch, surprising both her and Sadie. Cautiously, she picked up to see who texted her, and her distress only got worse when Chris' name popped up. The world hated her, apparently. Chewing into her lip now, she unlocked her screen, reading over the message.

Chris: Well, this brings up a question that I'd like to get out now.

She blinked, reading over it a few times. Okay, that's not the response she expected. She was still tense, though. This question could either be good or bad.

Celina: Shoot.

Chris: So say I did ask you out, like, an actual date.

Chris: Would you say yes?

Celina: I don't see any reason why I wouldn't.

Celina: But, I mean, we've only known each other for like, a day.

Chris: I didn't mean today, just, some time in the future.

Chris: If that's cool with you.

Celina: Yeah, of course!

A wave of relief washed over Celina, thankful that she didn't push him away. But...he wanted to go on an actual date with her. He actually showed interest in her. It's possible that would change in the future, of course. But he showed interest in her. Shit, she had to tell Lindsay. She quickly left her conversation with Chris and started a new one with her friend.

Celina: Okay, I want a serious answer here.

Lindsay: Depends on the question.

Celina: Is the guy that likes me Chris?

Celina: Because if it isn't, I'm going to be mildly concerned with the guys at the office and their taste in girls.

Lindsay: As much as I would love to answer that, I can't.

Lindsay: I will die with this secret if I have to.

Celina: God dammit Lindsay

Lindsay: If it helps, I'll give you another hint.

Lindsay: I know for a fact that you don't hang out with all the guys here.

Lindsay: He's someone you don't normally hang out with.

Celina: So does that eliminate Chris from the possibilties or no?

Lindsay: Good luck!

Celina: I hate you with a passion right now.


End file.
